


And Maybe, You’re Gonna Be The One That Saves Me

by frozengay



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Abuse, Emotional Abuse, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Healing, LGBT, Lesbian, M/M, Physical Abuse, Rape, Recovery, Romance, Sad with a Happy Ending, Self Harm, Sexual Assault, Slow Burn, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:02:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21970360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frozengay/pseuds/frozengay
Summary: Cheryl Blossom, the daughter of Pastor Clifford and Penelope Blossom wishes she could be anything, and live as anyone other than herself. Maybe pain can be the one to save her, or maybe a certain pink haired serpent will manage to.OrCheryl carries her life in a book while her life is being torn apart bit by bit, and Toni manages to be the one thing she doesn’t absolutely hate.TW- self harm, physical abuse, sexual abuse, eating disorders, gang violence. But it has a happy ending :)DISCONTINUED :(
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Toni Topaz/Cheryl Blossom
Comments: 11
Kudos: 73





	1. Cover Up With Makeup In The Mirror, Tell Yourself It’s Never Gonna Happen Again

**Author's Note:**

> I suck at summaries and shit but this is a dark Choni (Toni/Cheryl) fic, based loosely on the storyline. But don’t worry, and remember things always get better, this will have a happy ending :)
> 
> trigger warnings for rape, suicide attempt(s), self harm, description of abuse, physical and emotional abuse, trauma, eating disorders, gang violence.

The redhead sat, the antagonizingly bright light ambled above her head as she drew. The rose velvet of her sketch book had been slowly growing wearier and wearier as the days passed. Her HB pencil drawing aimlessly on the lined page; allowing her mind to draw for her.

She couldn't afford a new sketchbook; well, she could. You see, she was the daughter of two of the wealthiest people in Riverdale, but frankly she didn't want to. The thin paper held together by tired binds, aching to be set free and let her pages roam around the room like a aerial dancer, was what gave her life a purpose. It was one of her only escapes, and if her parents knew she'd been drawing such... deviant things, they'd never let her out of the house again.

Drawings of girls; her first love Heather mainly. Pictures of Jason taped in to keep her inspired on her off days, sketches of provocative things, so lightly drawn out of fear if she pushed her pen in too deep, the ink would seep thru and manage to show it on her skin like a tattoo for everyone to see and judge. 

Her house was quiet except for the sound of wrapping paper crinkling and the near inaudible song she recognized as one from the nutcracker, where her mother, too bored of her negligence and troubles left her at home for most of the week. To be quite frank, Cheryl was sure her mother had been entertaining some of the more lonely men in Riverdale; and her father most likely knew. However, Catholics don't get divorced. Let alone the most notorious pastor and his equally as notoriously respected wife.

The girl heaved a heavy sigh, sitting up in bed and rubbing the palm of her hand against her face, stilling a yawn.   
With a glance at the clock on her bedside table, it shone 4:51pm in almost a mocking way. She couldn't escape at night like she usually did, because on the off chance her parents noticed the scars buried deep within her wrists, the ever so lovely beatings would get just a bit worse, and the grotesque yellow bruises were almost finished healing. 

She wasn’t even really allowed downstairs to join in on the Christmas festivities like setting up the Christmas tree, hanging of lights and mantle pieces, or even wrapping gifts for her friends. She didn’t get any gifts during Christmas, since every year her parents quote ‘gave her the most luxurious life she could ever dream of, and she should be thankful for it,’ but how was being confined to a cold house built off lies and manipulation a gift? Hell, the only present she wanted that year was a swift bullet to the head. Maybe then the pain would stop for longer than a fresh wound she inflicted herself.

Since her brother died the summer past, she slowly was becoming more and more of a nuisance to her family, who definitely wished she had died in his place. And she wished that herself, too. Jason Blossom was kind; the only one who cared about Cheryl and would protect her despite everything his parents would try and instil in his mind from an early age. He was too good for life; too good for the life he was given, and so harshly taken from. 

After what felt like forever of staring at her clock that barely ticked 5 minutes by, she lifted herself off her bed slowly, slipping her freezing cold feet into her wool slippers, padding to the adjacent bathroom. Brown eyes shutting at their own accord from the harsh lights beating down on her; she eventually managed to look deeply at the reflection she so begrudgingly called her own.

Red hair that was matted at the ends from the way her pillow nagged at it while she tossed and turned every night to no avail. Brown eyes hooded and tired, with blue bags supporting them. Her lips were chapped, pale skin glaring demeaningly back at her. 

She hated the way she looked. But she was raised to meet appearances, to be someone other than who she was. Feel anything other than she did. 

Her teeth nearly gritted apart when she heard her name being called from downstairs, knowing supper was over and she had to clean up, despite the fact that her parents paid good money for a maid. It was something or other about being a proper woman. And how a man wanted a meal prepped for when he got home from working, and cleaned from the moment he set his fork down.

"Cheryl!" The shrill voice shot down her spine once again, as she straightened her posture and wiped the forming tears from her eyes "Coming mother!" 

As she expected, her father was sitting with a glass of whiskey in one hand, and a paper in the other, whilst her mother just stared across her seat into the roaring fire that gave thistlehouse some form of warmth. 

Her stomach rumbled, resulting in a smirk to her mother’s lips. It was fasting week, since football season was starting, and Penelope Blossom set her on a diet plan to ensure she stayed skinnier than her cheer uniform. 

Cheryl picked up the plates gingerly, avoiding her parents eyes as she made her way to the kitchen to get to work on the dishes. 

She was about halfway down when her parents appeared behind her, her mother roughly twisting the sink nov to the highest heat setting, and watching with a gulp as the steam started raising like the fear in her chest when she was pushed hard against the kitchen sink, her bones crushing uncomfortably against them with no fat to ease the blow 

Cheryl hissed out in pain; quickly regaining her composure when her mother shot her a warning look “You know how to clean, Cheryl.” Penelope narrowed her eyes, “Or do you need another lesson from your father?”

The youngest Blossom shook her head quickly “No, Mother, I know how to clean.” She said, her voice shaking as her hands did the same, reaching into the boiling sink to grab the sponge and scrubbing loosely at a plate while the heat quickly worked it’s way into burning her hands

“Fuck!” Cheryl hissed, pulling her hands back and shaking them furiously, trying to cool them as best she could. Almost immediately, regret made its way into her features, looking horrified between her mother, who’s face remained emotionless, to her father who landed a quick blow to her stomach, causing her to double over in pain

“Cheryl Marjorie Blossom. Women do not cuss, they do not stop their duties as a housewife.” Her mother said, eerily calm despite the fact her husband was hitting their daughter 

With hot tears running down her pale cheeks, Cheryl choked out an “I’m sorry” just in time for Clifford to have his belt undid and lashing at her back, 

Cheryl fell to the floor sobbing, and with a final kick to her chest, her parents left her their to soak in the pain she felt throughout her body, like a million daggers all over, while her mind went blank. 

—

Cheryl awoke the next day, her head pounding from staying up another night, her mind too carried away to allow sleep to carry her peacefully away from the harsh reality of her life. Despite her exhaustion, she at least spared herself a night away from crying and torturing herself, opting to finish up her college applications and some assignments she knew were going to be handed out soon. Lucky for her, her teachers knew she was a resilient and smart kid, and always gave her her work ahead of time so she really never missed anything, even if she spent the entire school week day dreaming. 

She spent a good while scrubbing viciously at the fresh bruises and welts on her body, until her skin was red and and sore to the touch from how hard her mother insisted shel clean herself up.

God knows what made Penelope Blossom believe that scrubbing bruises and forming welts would do any good at healing them. Maybe it wasn’t about healing them, but rather to remind the teenager that the pain was her fault. No matter who caused it; it was herself she had to blame. 

Cheryl stood at 5 am, knowing it would take a good two hours to fix herself to her mother and peers standards. A straightener released a strand of red hair in a loose curl to match the rest, colouring her lips with a rich rouge to match her skin tight red top, and a deeper form of red for skinny jeans. 

She knew she looked good, after all, she was from the Northside, so makeup and high end fashion designs weren’t hard to get. And though fashion wasnt what she really wanted to be spending so much money on; it at least gave her some twisted relief that her parents enjoyed it. Because in her mind, if her parents liked what she was doing, maybe they wouldn’t hurt her so much. But of course, that was never the case.

One would wonder why a pastors daughter dressed so... provocatively. Well, it was simple. Penelope Blossom was insane, and has progressing plans that by the end of senior year, Cheryl would have found a wealthy man to marry. So how else better to get a man than to dress to the nines while acting as innocently as possible?

Grabbing her purse, she let out a sigh and made her way down the stairs, giving a soft smile and kiss to each of her parents cheeks before climbing into her impala, wincing at the fresh wounds as she settled into her seat, and set off to yet another place she pretended to be someone other than who she was; not that she really knew who that was anyhow.


	2. I Can See It On Your Face, You’re Hurting, Grab A Hold Of Me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a filler before we get to see some Choni :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for   
> Sexual Assault  
> Rape  
> Physical Abuse  
> Emotional Abuse  
> Eating Disorder  
> Self Harm
> 
> But remember, things always get better :) and this story has a happy ending, just as you’ll always find. Keep livin :)

Cheryl felt the mid-January cold nip at her cheeks stepping out of the warmth of her car, and tightened her cardigan she found in her backseat around herself, breathing out a ghost she blissfully imagined for a moment to be herself; free at last. Shaking her head clear of her depressing thoughts, she walked into the familiar hall of the school she had been running for the last 4 years, stretching the kinks in her neck as she made her way to her locker

Cheryl smiled softly at her best friend and cousin as they approached her with huge grins "Hey Cher!" Betty beamed, wrapping an arm around the redheads shoulder "Senior year!" She jumped around, squealing as she did "Coming to the big game tonight?"

Ah yes, homecoming. How could Cheryl forget, what with the absolute shithole her mind and body had been living in “Obviously, I am head Vixen after all." She said, forcing an assertiveness to her voice so no one would even be allowed a second to think she was anything other than Riverdales HBIC.

"Awesome!" Betty perked "Were all going to meet at pops before the game, Jug's writing the paper on the game and well, Archie is the quarterback!" 

Betty had a way of over explaining everything, even uneccesary things, all with a shit eating grin that even hell itself couldn't break.

Veronica rolled her eyes and opened her locker beside Cheryl's, grabbing her books for class "And I'll be there to try and stop Betty here,” she nodded at the still bouncing blonde “From making our ears ring.”

Cheryl laughed honestly at that. Few things truly made her smile and feel something, and luckily her two best friends and their male counterparts managed to do that. She took off down the hall to her Chemistry class after chatting with Betty and Veronica for a few minutes, deciding it'd be a better idea to listen to useless ramblings from a middle aged man than it was to get another lashing from her father for being less than perfect, despite her 4.0 GPA. Though it was astounding that he actually cared; even if it was over something as flippant as the Blossom image was. 

She took a seat in the far back corner, opening up her sketchbook to draw, while she put in earphones to drown out the carefree laughter of the students. It was the first day back, and the former-juniors were relishing in the glow of being a year older, but still a bunch of idiots. She truly felt envious- even if it were over people that got drunk off a wine cooler- that they be able to enjoy life. She never had had that luxury, despite the copious amounts of money and materialistic things she’d been born into.

Brown eyes met the detailed one headed serpent on the back of a worn out leather jacket. It was so strange, almost ridiculous that they thought it would be deemed intimidating. But it incaptured her, and she found her mouth dry when she caught a glimpse of dyed pink hair. 

Cheryl didn't remember the new addition to the schools name, and she frankly didn't care. All she knew was she was a close friend of Jughead's, and it caused a growing suspicion seeing them hug every day that maybe they had something going on, despite her Nancy Drew like cousin having him cuffed. But meanwhile, the tanned girl was equally as close to... snap pea? Sugar plum? Something along those lines of obnoxious. He was a tall, hulk of a guy with a rough demeanour. He seemed happy, but rugged and also looked like he could kill a bear with his own hands. 

Toni felt eyes on her back, and turned to catch the HBIC staring. They looked at each other in silence, until a short man with a dull expression walked in, breaking their silent gazes "Seniors, to your seats. I’m Mr. Bentsen, and you will only be calling me by that.” He pointed to his name written conservatively on the whiteboard “Open your textbook to page 75, even if it is the first day back, we’re diving right in. We’ll be going over the stoichiometry section for these coming weeks.” 

The students filed in and took their seats, groaning at the introduction.   
Of course, it wasn’t Cheryl’s favourite subject,   
but during the summer she spent most of it studying the upcoming courses to get a head start, so really she didn’t need to listen, and on that particular day didn’t feel like learning as it was.  
Cheryl placed her purse on the seat beside her to avoid anyone on the off chance actually wanting to be seated near her, with the exception of her best friends, who she unfortunately didn’t share many classes with.

Cheryl could feel eyes on her, but didn't look to see. After all, no one looked at Cheryl Blossom and didn’t fear the scathing response they’d get back.

An hour of lazy doodling and random notes about calculation of reactants and products in chemical reactions later; the bell rang for lunch.

Deciding she was going to have to interact with her friends later on, Cheryl walked out to her car, deciding to take a long lunch due to her free period, and the red impala freshly polished without a scratch on it sat comfortably in the parking lot. That was, until, she saw Nick St Clair, captain of the football team and one of her parents friends son, dragging his car key against the passenger side door

"What in the hell are you doing?!" She bellowed, marching over toward the teen boy who's smug expression faltered for a moment before he stood up straight, nose to nose with the Vixen "You, hopefully." He ran his rough hand against her outer thigh, pulling her in close to him. Cheryl felt her throat clench up, unable to speak. She closed her eyes tightly, refusing to let him see the terror in her eyes. And when she expected laughter and whispers about how she was being a slut so publicly, the weight on her body was removed and as if she couldn't breathe, she started gasping for air, sliding down to the damp concrete of the parking lot. It rained all week, and it really helped mask her tears when she was out for a walk.

Toni startled them both, coming out of seemingly no where before she had Nick pinned against the door he was formerly ripping up.

"Back the fuck off, St Claire." She growled out between her clenched teeth, towering over the 6 foot player who was now cowering beneath her.

His eyes widened in fear, because yeah, Toni was tiny, but she was anything but soft. "W-whatever, Serpent." He squeaked out, and with a huff she threw him to the floor, where he crawled away as fast as he could to the group of football boys laughing at him

Cheryl watched in amazement as the girl she barely spoken a word to stood up for her. "Uh..." Cheryl cleared her throat, gaining the attention of the serpent whos eyes immediately filled with warmth once again "Thanks..." she mumbled out, clutching her purse like it were a lifeline, eyes casting a drift down to scuffed up doc martens 

Toni laughed softly, and leaned down to help her up from where sat on the floor "No worries. Hes a dickhead, it was my pleasure" She smirked, stuffing her hands into her serpent jacket and avoiding the spark she felt when she helped the redhead to her feet 

Cheryl nodded with lips pursed tightly together. It was awkward. But, somehow pleasant too "I'm Toni. Topaz.” the pink haired girl grinned, and Cheryl felt like her heart was about to burst. Maybe from the previous interaction, well, shed convince herself of that at least 

"Right you're new here," Cheryl forced a smile and stood up straight, ignoring the way Toni's eyebrows raised in amusement "I'm Cheryl Blossom, aka Cheryl Bombshell. Which means I need no reasons. I simply am."

Toni’s laugh was merry, and warm. It caused Cheryl’s heart to flutter, and she couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh too “Feel free to tremble.” The redhead added, causing both of them to laugh harder.

“Well,” Toni started, biting her lip as she backed up “I’ll save you any day, even if you are Cheryl Bombshell.” She bit back a grin, giving said girl a once over “I’ll see you around.” 

-

Cheryl sat at her usual booth at Pops with Betty, Jughead, Veronica and Archie. The sky was mostly cleared up from the nights storm, so Cheryl left her car with Kevin to fix up and opted to walk around for a couple days instead of riding in typical Northside style.  
Once they thanked Pop Tate for bringing them their burgers and shakes, they began in on the homecoming game  
"So," Archie started with a bright smile "Party at my house later tonight after the game. It's senior year after all, so might as well get everyone together for one of the last times." 

Cheryl scoffed, rolling her eyes and leaning back against the cushioned booth "You're not inviting that..." she scowled, nodding off to a group of laughing teens"serpent scum, are you?" 

Betty sighed, putting an arm on her boyfriend comfortingly as he started to tense up “Jug's a serpent, Cheryl. They're not that bad.”

"Yeah, and plus, I hear that Toni chick totally stood up for you at lunch." Archie cut in, speaking over a mouthful of burger 

Cheryl felt her pulse pick up at the mention of the serpent. She saved her. No one ever had done that. Jason would've but.. all she had were memories of protective hugs, wiping unrelinquishing tears and helping care for her wounds the twins parents caused.

"Barely." Cheryl rolled her eyes, ignoring the dull pain in her chest at the memories of her brother and... the new memory of the serpent girl “She just caused a dent in my car." 

All of her friends sent her glances, a mix of   
You’re-full-of-shit, yeah-okay-Cheryl-bullshit-blossom and you’re-ridiculous, from the more proper two of the bunch. But they didn't press the matter, diving into the conversation of the latest episode of Mindhunters, but Cheryl couldn't, despite loving the show, she just stared blankly at the door to Pops. Hoping that maybe someone would walk in and end the ongoing suffering she was facing. I mean, it wasn’t rare a murderer waltz in to the diner. But still, with her best friends by her side and the slight hope in her chest from Toni actually protecting her, maybe she wasn’t as deviant and useless as her parents made her out to be. Maybe things would start to look up,

But oh, how Cheryl was wrong.


	3. Broken Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Give me some feedback? If you want? Maybe? Also I update everyday, leave any comments on any of my works for somethin you’d like me to write :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for   
> Sexual Assault  
> Rape  
> Physical Abuse  
> Emotional Abuse  
> Eating Disorder  
> Self Harm
> 
> But remember, things always get better :) and this story has a happy ending, just as you’ll always find. Keep livin :)

The bright lights made the entire field look like something out of a movie.   
Cross bars and posts, the echo of distant whistles from the referees,  
The cool and friendly scent of freshly cut and watered turf.  
And in the air, a little wind that told of the coming snow storm. But though it was cold and the crisp air made Cheryl's skin tingle, cheer was one of the things she was happiest at. Shouting, letting her emotions going thru her like ink in her sketch pens, and out in another sort of art

"B-U-L-L D-O-G-S let's go!" The Vixens cheered, clapping in unison while the 11 men clad in Riverdale colours charged toward the Centerville Cougars. 

They were down by 2 points when Coach Clayton called the team to a huddle. The kickoff was about to start, with the second half nearly over, and Cheryl decided to leave Veronica in charge, needing a breath of air that didn't reek of sweaty teenage guys and the slight scent of corosive metal from the band instruments. 

She turned briskly to the gates to the field "Hey, Cheryl," came the deep voice of none other than Jughead Jones, who held a camera at an angle in front of a puddle "What are you doing?" She asked

"I'm in charge of the article Before the Storm, for the blue and gold. I'm taking some minimalistic pictures to cap-" 

"Capture the eccense before the game. Sort of... create a scene, of how everyone can come together despite their differences." She finished, and Jughead raised his eyebrows in shock "Uh...exactly. Wow, didn't think you'd know so much about art?" 

She smiled softly, scuffing at the dirt with her sneaker "Yeah, well...theres lots people don't know about me." 

"Like how you have an undying hatred for the serpents?" Jug joked, switching his crouched position to take a picture of some faded graffiti on the side of the bleachers "Well, that's not so much a secret" Cheryl joked, looking over at the canon camera and biting her lip, letting a soft hum escape her lips

"What?" He asked, looking from her to the preview screen "Well, id just adjust the light exposure so the effect of the graffiti pops out more. And also angle it a little to the left so you can get some natural light in, so that the shape of the bleachers is still visually there."

The serpents jaw dropped, before he let out a belly laugh, nearly falling into the puddle he was previously photographing "What." Cheryl demanded, hands on her hips "It's just- you- you're a genius!" He managed between laughs, standing up and drying his hand on the side of his jeans "why aren't you on the paper?" 

Cheryl scoffed, flicking her hair behind her shoulder as she turned to gesture at the field "Because I'm apart of that. Not the losers that so lowly document themselves as journalists like Nancy Drew or yourself, Michael Finkel."

Jughead rolled his eyes and held the camera out to her "What?" She questioned, poking at the camera inquisitively.

Once again, the serpent rolled his eyes and shoved it more firmly into her hands, and she sighed, giving in and letting her artistic side pop out a little. No one was around, so it was safe to drop her act for a moment.

Cheryl settled on snapping a shot of a footprint in the mud, leading toward the field. But with a second glance at the picture she captured, she stepped into the mud beside it, grimacing at the gross feeling under her sneaker and retaking it, with a smile, she took a few more imaginative shots before handing it back to him "Wow," he nodded with a smile playing at his lips "You're good." 

Cheryl smirked, cocking her hip out "Was that a question?" 

She didn't notice the eyes watching her from behind the gate, or how when she left the boy to his strange artistic muses, the eyes left it's hiding spot and revealed the same serpent who defended her against Nick St Clair earlier in the day.

"So, I guess Cheryl Blossom is more than a self-involved cheerleader?" Toni hummed, snatching the camera from Jughead and looking thru the multiple photos Cheryl had taken "Impressive." 

Jughead smiled lopsidedly, "Bet you wanna see if shes that artistic and impressive in bed" 

Toni shot him a look, and snatched his beanie, running thru the throttles of students in laughter, and Cheryl noticed, and ignored the way a smile wanted to creep onto her lips, instead, placing a firm expression in its place and cheering as the kick off started

—

"Who the fuck is the best in Riverdale!" 

"Bulldogs Bulldogs Bulldogs!" 

Archie laughed and high fived his teammates. They'd successfully landed the kick off, and scored a touchdown with the buzzer at 4 seconds remaining,  
So, of course, they were going all out at the Andrew's household, moreso then foreseeably planned.

Cheryl watched from the doorway, surveying the small home packed to the brim with teens of all kinds. Nerds, jocks, cheerleaders, outcasts. They were off in their own cliques, and she realized she didn't really have one. I mean, she had B and V but, they were always closer.

"Cheryl!" Archie whooped, an already tipsy blonde under his arm "Grab whatever you want from the kitchen! Me casa es... uhhh" he broke out laughing. Okay, so he was obviously drunk. "Thank you Archie," 

He pulled the random girl away who was in a fit of giggles, and the redhead couldn't help but roll her eyes. Archie was sort of, well... a man slut, to put simply. After his breakup with Veronica a few months back, he went on a bender. But, at least the friend group remained somewhat stable.

Cheryl sauntered over toward the kitchen table, a variety of bottles and cans of different alcohol were staring back up at her. She didn't really drink, unless it was a glass of champagne or wine at a family event. Other than that, she was forbidden, despite her fathers large stash of whiskey and rum in the living room.

She settled on a cup of punch, gingerly sipping at her red solo cup, eyes scanning the living room. Everyone was laughing and in every which way, a couple was hooking up on any surface available. Including... a lampshade? It was definitely weird.

Cheryl sat on the headboard of one of the more free couches, one leg freely swinging from under her while she supported herself on the white pillar behind her back. The party was a total bust, like she knew itd be, and now it was a matter of time until she got Betty to come pick her up; choosing a steamy date with Jug rather than a numb-skulling ideal such as a teenage party; where all they were, were sloppy messes of hormones trying to fit in. She didn't anticipate none of her friends beside the host showing up, and with her car in the shop, she was forced to deal with the random kids bumping into her and feeling suffocated by the smell of sweat and the pounding of music in her ears. 

With a glance around, she spotted a group forming outside, and in approaching, saw Jughead with a sneer and a few other serpent members she recognized from school formed on the lawn, facing off with another gang with strange face paintings done and torn up clothes, carrying baseball bats and various other strange weapons.

"Your kinds not welcome here, Ghoulie." Fangs growled out, and that just seemed to cause the other gang to get riled up. 

"Such a shame," the oldest of the Ghoulies said, rounding the group to stand in front of the same pink haired serpent from earlier "What happened to your parents. Tsk tsk. Truly our bad," 

Cheryl watched as Toni's nails dug into her palms- her cousin did that a lot. Her knuckles were white, and face expressionless as the man continued circling her

Something in Cheryl's stomach clenched, watching how the man laughed and was so close to Toni. 

But Toni wasn't hers, and not her problem. But she couldn't tear her eyes away from the event unfolding   
"We didn't mean to stab them" he smirked at her "How can we ever make it up to you." 

A blow to his jaw landed, and it was almost surprising how strong Toni could be. He doubled over, and in a mere flash blades were extracted from the serpents, bats lifting on the other side, as the serpents and Ghoulies went at each other

The man kicked Toni down, and she spat out some blood that was pooling in her mouth "fuck..." she grumbled out, before standing back to her feet, her fists faster than the bearded mans reactions

He landed his own blows, and by now the sheriff's car was coming to a stop, FP hopping out and quickly pushing the two apart, "Serpents, back down!" He commanded, shooting a fiery look at his son, who was wiping the blood from his blade 

"Toni, Malachai." Oh so that was his name "I'm taking you to jail for the night. The rest of you get home." He regarded the partiers, who looked wildly at each other "now!"

—

Cheryl got home, and Betty didn't quite understand why she'd been quiet the entire ride back. After all, her boyfriend was the one in a gang, with a messed up rib from a brutal battering.  
But she didn't ask questions, knowing better then to bother Cheryl when she was that quiet. Because a quiet Cheryl was way more terrifying than her sarcastic-bite self.

Cheryl quietly took her heels off, and walked into the living room, feeling dread fill every ounce of her body at the sight of her parents sitting quietly by the fire. 

It was past 1 am, and she was always expected home by 10pm, 11 at latest if she was with Betty. So she knew what was about to happen wasnt going to be good.

"Mother, Father..." she regarded them, taking hesitant steps into the living room. "I know I'm past my curfew, I'm sorry." 

Her parents didn't look up, but Penelope placed her glass of a ridiculously priced wine down, and spoke, her eyes never leaving the roaring flames "You were at that wretched Andrews' home. Doing God knows what, disregarding our rules so blatantly." 

Cheryl swallowed a lump in her throat, a shaky breath escaping from her mouth no matter how hard she tried to stay silent

"You're simply deviant." Penelope stood, walking over to her child who stood shell shocked in fear. The elder blossom grabbed Cheryl by the collar of her jacket, sneering at her. She pulled her toward the chapel in their home, and threw her in. She could smell a faint trace of alcohol that was spilt on her from some random kid bumping into her, and from the rage in brown eyes, Cheryl knew what was coming.

"Alcohol is a sin, dear." Her face was eerily calm, which made it all the worse when she felt a kick to the back of her knees, pushing her down roughly 

Clifford was behind her, a hand in her hair tugging so she was forced to stare at the cross dead in front of her eyes.   
"Youve disobeyed us and the lord far too much, Cheryl Marjorie."

The ripping of her shirt caused her to clench her eyes, trying to stop the tears, it would only made things worse.

The lashes came to her still healing welts, and she couldn't stop the painful weep that left her throat. It was guttural, and painful. Her throat was raw from cheering and the countless nights that week she spent crying. 

Her father forced her to stand, and held her against the wall while she silently plead with her mother thru watery eyes. But Penelope didn't move from where she stood emotionless, and she felt bile in her throat when her knees were next to be lashed at. It hurt beyond compare, possibly the worst pain she'd ever felt. Her knees were bruised from being forced down painfully in prayer every night, and with a look down, she saw crimson dripping down onto her white socks, staining them like ink. 

Her father left her there for a moment, but she knew what would come next. And as the memories of the last time this happened; after Jason's funeral came flooding back, sea and kosher salt spilled out in front of her, and with her eyes still shut tightly, she was forced onto her knees.

The salt burned the open wounds on her knees, and her sobs starting pouring out of her the way the blood was. "10 Hail Mary's, and then you are to write 50 our fathers." Was what Clifford left her with, watching for the first two rounds of sob-voiced prayers, before he closed the chapel gate and left her there to her thoughts, wounded and endless streams of tears pouring down her face.


	4. Somethings Going On, But She’s Like A Skrillex Song That Never Drops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Choni is opening upppp

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote half of this listening to Creve Coeur 1 so

Cheryl walked into English, and Toni's eager eyes finally landed on the girl she couldn't get off her mind. She knew Cheryl had watched her fight yesterday, and it for some reason gave her all the more strength to fight back. She looked different than she usually saw her. Under her eyes were a faint blue, and her eyes were red and hooded. She looked like she hadn't slept in days. No makeup, and her hair was down, nearly covering her face as she walked in. She looked like she was holding her breath, hoping to disappear and never be thought of again. She had the cuffs of her sweaters balled in her fists so tightly her knuckles were white, and she looked around for a moment, locking eyes with familiar brown. She didn't smile, or sneer. She wasn't being Cheryl. 

The usually fiery redhead walked thru the aisles, taking a seat in the back where a serpent usually occupied. Most of them were out 'sick', meaning they just had too much to drink at the party they threw last night in Sunmyville. 

Toni couldnt help but turn in her seat to look at the girl who was gazing numbly out the window at the light rain falling; turning the snow to slush on the pavement. She couldn't resist, mouthing an "are you okay?" At the vixen. 

Cheryl looked at her with dull eyes and nodded, her attention being drawn back to the window, the cool condensation relieving the tension in her temples.

"Okay class, open to your Pride and Prejudice books to page 36, where we left off from last class. Josie, can you read starting from line..." 

The teachers voice drawled out, and Toni was left with a knot in her chest. Sure, Cheryl caused her hell over the entire time she'd been at Riverdale high, but that didn't mean she wanted to see her in pain. 

-

Toni clambered off of her motorcycle; the mid-January cold nipping at her nose and cheeks. She let out a breath, watching it dance in winters reflection. 

She made a beeline for pops, her hands stuffed into the warm leather of her serpent jacket. The familiar chime above her head made her smile softly; always feeling at home at Pop's. She didn't get too much shit for being a southsider there, since it was so close to the tracks leading to her own home.

Pop greeted her with a warm smile, taking her order before she surveryed the booths. One was being occupied by an elderly couple, a few others taken by some Riverdale High students, and in the corner a free booth sat. 

She walked over and plopped down, warming herself up under the heater by the window. It was dark out despite it being only four, and The Cranberries was playing faintly on the jukebox. 

The jingle sounded again, and Toni was pulled from the distraction of her Instagram feed to see the same solemn redhead, who wordlessly sat across from her.

Toni quirked a brow, but didn't say anything just in case it would scare the taller girl off. Pop Tate came by with a burger, fries, and two shakes, knowing it was Cheryl's traditional order.

Cheryl didn't even pick at her food. She just stared at the plates in front of her, almost like she was deciding whether or not to throw them. 

Toni put a tentative hand on the one fiddling with a napkin "Cheryl, what's wrong."

A beat passed, Cheryl's hand twitching under the tan one. She looked up with glassy eyes, and before Toni could speak, the redhead darted out of the booth into the bathroom  
-

“Cheryl...?” Toni softly said, pushing the bathroom door open to see the redhead standing by the small window. Her silhouette was indication enough that she was crying, from how her body was racking from the sobs quietly echoing the empty room.

Toni approached her, gently reaching her hand out to rest on the HBIC’s side. It made her snap, and Toni took a few steps back as Cheryl turned to face her, a sneer set in place while her words dripped with venom “Get your sapphic serpent hands off of my body!”

Wordlessly, Toni shook her head and pulled the taller girl into a hug.  
Cheryl hesistated for a second, before letting her arms wrap tightly around Toni's waist, heaving out a shuddering breath "I'm sorry..." 

Toni together her embrace, and talked through the red locks of the taller girl "why are you sorry?"

"I'm sorry you have to deal with me."

Toni felt her heart shatter at seeing the usually icy queen so broken.

"I don't have to," Toni whispered out, placing a hand on Cheryl's cheek to wipe the tears aggressively falling "I want to."

"Can I show you something?" Cheryl asked, chewing at her bottom lip nervously

"Of course."

Toni regretted that when she started to watch Cheryl peel her jeans off, and she bit back a chuckle that completely faded when she saw the large gashes over her knees  
"Cheryl.." she whispered out, crouching down to drag her thumb along one of the less critical wounds "what happened?"

Cheryl let a shudder confulse her body, and put her jeans back on, wincing at the tight fabric on her fresh wounds "Well, I came home late." She began, turning to look at her reflection in distain "And my father was, let's say, less than happy about it." 

"He did that to you?"   
Toni didn't mean for her voice to sound so angry, but she felt an innate protectiveness. Maybe because she was a serpent, and they protected their own. And Cheryl was sort of friends with Jughead. Okay well, that was just some very not thought out excuse but it was the best idea she could think of at the time.

Cheryl hummed in response, and wiped the mascara from under her eyes "How's your battle battered body doing." 

Toni checked the bruising and cut on her face from beneath her foundation, and felt at her ribs, wincing when she was met with the inflamed skin she found "Eh, could be worse."

"What was his problem, anyway?" 

Toni licked her lips and leaned against the washroom sink, "Malachai' s a dick. Not a whole lot more to it than that." 

Cheryl nodded and a silence fell like a blanket. It wasn't awkward, which was surprising to them both. They hadn't talked a lot and yet whenever Cheryl found herself in trouble, Toni was there to pick up the pieces.

"Come on." Toni said, walking toward the door, a conflicted redhead in tow "Where are we going?"

The serpent didn't reply, and instead led her out to her bike that was parked at the end of the lot, closer to the tracks that led to the Southside. Cheryl had an inkling of where they were about to end up, and took the offered helmet hesitantly. It left Toni without one, "I'm not letting you ride this death trap without protection." 

Toni chortled a laugh, "I'll be fine, Cher." The nickname came easily, and she sucked in a breath at the unrecognizable look on the redheads face "I've ridden a million times. I'll be fine, I rarely ever fall off."

"But you still have?!" 

Toni set the bike into motion, laughing at the bewildering yelling of the rich girl who she helped up onto the back, making sure her feet were settled into the passenger foot slides.   
"Hold on tight" 

And Cheryl did, the entire ride thru the Southside, and even when they stopped at the foot before the sunnyville trailers. "Welcome to Sunmyville. Not as bright as it sounds, but equally as warm and welcoming" Toni mused, helping the redhead off the bike and leading her past a group of serpents who watched on in amusement 

"What's a Northsider doing here?" Sweetpea asked, coming up behind his friend and leaning his weight on to her head, to which he got a punch in the stomach at "Cool off, Sweets." 

"Sweetpea, this is Cheryl." Toni introduced, and the bigger guy just nodded at the redhead, who sneered back at the boy.

"Jug!" She called out, and the familiar beanie boy with a blonde in tow came running, "Show Cheryl around. I'm just gonna fix up my place."

He nodded and Betty linked arms with her cousin, walking and chatting about nothing too important.  
"Welcome to casa jones, blossom." Jughead said, sitting down on the couch in his living room and sipping at a warm can of root beer.

"Wow... homely." The redhead couldn't fight back a grimace looking around at the scatter of photos and notes on the wall and dirty plates in the sink 

"I wasn't exactly expecting such special company" the boy mumbled out, his arm tightening around Betty's waist, who kissed his cheek sweetly 

"Well arent you two the perfect picture of bliss." Jug and Betty looked at her, annoyed and pointed, and she threw her hands up in surrender, backing up till her knees hit the chair that she fell into.

An hour passed, and Cheryl was pretty sure Toni abandoned her to an awkward third wheeling session with Jughead and Betty.

Said boys phone began to buzz on the couch, and he lazily plucked it up "Go find Toni..." he mumbled out, before sleepily falling back into Betty's lap who was already fast asleep.  
-

Cheryl surveryed the Sunnyville trailers with a quirked brow, and her arms wrapped tightly around her midsection to ward off the cold. One and two (something) trailers all sat beside each other, almost in a circle with the exception of the gap for motorcycles and on foot travellers to walk in. A still-warm fire pit surrounded with lawn chairs and empty beer bottles was telltale enough that that was where they usually hung out. 

Nothing really stood out in individuality, making it hard to pinpoint which one exactly belonged to Toni. Maybe it was for safety reasons no one had their own look on the outside, or maybe it was a lack of care. 

Cheryl took out her phone about to text Jughead when she heard a loud bang from the trailer to the left of her, followed by a warm laugh she knew as the serpent girl she was spending a strange amount of time with.

Her feet carried her over and with a batted breath, she wrapped her knuckles on the steel door, and it was opened to a smiling Toni 

"Hey, Cheryl! Come on in!"

Cheryl looked around the trailer. Her bedroom alone was probably the size of half the trailer, but despite its size she had to admit it had a cozy, home-like feeling. Her gaze stopped on the drunken mess sitting at the table. Sweet Pea was still pretty scary looking, and she only knew him as the guy she made bitter comments to in passing, but he had a bright smile as he talked amoursly with the shorter guy, Fangs if she remembered, who was laying on the floor laughing, most likely from falling off his chair

Toni though, looked like something right out of a movie. her hair wasnt lacking in shine from the overhead bulb on the front deck and was pulled into a high ponytail, a strip of pink hair loose by her face, and her lips were adorned a dull pink lipstick, and she for the first time Cheryl ever saw, wasnt wearing her usual Serpent jacket and combat boots but instead a bright yellow hoodie and slippers. but she was still so much more alive than the last time she had seen her.   
All traces of makeup and coverage hiding her battle scars from her fight with that dickhead Ghoulie washed right off, and Cheryl could really see how bad the marks on her face were. A dark blue and purple- maybe even black covered her cheek, with a swollen lip that she hadn't noticed earlier.

"Cheryl?" She heard Toni ask, and looked over at the concerned girl who was probably wondering where her mind was going off to "You okay?"

"Just much cleaner than Jugheads."

Toni laughed. It was true, her home was surprisingly clean besides the mostly empty bottle of vodka and stray beer cans littering the kitchen. But yet, the magazines were neatly on the table in the similar living room, with a warm light filling space. A fluffy blanket hung over the couch, and a plush carpet covering up the floorboards.

"Toniiiiiii!" Came a smaller voice, and Toni smiled softly "Wanna come meet someone?" She asked softly, placing a careful hand on her shoulder "Uh, sure.."

-

The floor creaked with every step, but the redhead found herself adoring the quaint little trailer the longer she was there. It was warm and full with colourful and personal things, unlike her cold, empty and soulless home. Covered in posters of Toni's favourite musicians, and tapestry's pinned up to hide the cracks and holes in the walls. It didn't cease the cold winter breeze drawing thru, but the limitless amounts of blankets and pillows on Toni’s bed kept it insulated a bit better. Sitting on the bed, was a 5 or 6 year old little girl, with curly brown hair and bright eyes playing with some old looking toys.

“Cheryl,” Toni smiled, “This is my baby sister Avery.”


	5. Her Lips, My Lips, Apocalypse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s 4 am and I’m exhausted but here’s some cute lil fluffy choni with SOMEEE soft smut because wE ARENT GOING FULL ON 5 CHAPTERS IN GUYS, lemme know what you think if you wanna and thank you so much for the support :) it means the world

"Cheryl," Toni smiled "this is my baby sister Avery." 

I just looked at the little kid sitting so happily at the edge of the bed.She had a toothy grin, and looked like a carbon copy of Toni. She was looking at me like I'd never seen- no sign of hatred or fear indentured on any of her features. She had kind eyes, the same as her sister, and waved at me before turning her attention back to the taller Topaz “I'm not a baby!" Avery stuck her tongue out at Toni, resulting in the ladder attacking her in tickles, and I couldn't help but laugh. I hadn't seen two siblings be so loving toward each other since JJ was alive. But even then, I wasn't the best sister. More petulantly annoying.

"What do you need, Aves?" Toni asked her sister after their laughter died down, and I just stood awkwardly against the door frame, suddenly unsure of what to even do with my hands. 

"I wanna go to the park!" The little girl bounced up and down impatiently, a pout present and Toni rolled her eyes visibly and- exaggeratedly. Maybe she was learning a thing or two from me.

"We can't go to the park, bub." Toni sighed, sitting beside her sister and rubbing her back "You know it isn't safe with all that's happening with the Lodges."

Wow, so Toni actually told her little sister about how Hiram Lodge and our very own Archie Andrews were apart of a very obvious mafia business, with the illegal kingpin starting up a jail to hide his drug manufacturing. Sure, I wasn’t necessarily involved with all that, but I caught wind of it, mainly due to Betty. 

That must be a cross to bear, having to let her- what seemed to be- sole living family member down, and also having to explain such intense things when even the adults in the town could barely keep their bearings about the constant pop up scandals.

"I can take her-" the words came without even thinking, and when both sets of light brown eyes looked at me I almost regretted it “Really!" Avery gasped, jumping to her feet and hugging me around the leg 

"Yeah, really?" Toni mused, eyes flickering to her little sister and back up to me "It's the least I could do. I mean, the northside parks are definitely cleaner and safer and probably have more things to play on." I shrugged, patting the soft bundle of curls awkwardly 

"My cars still at pops, so if we ride half the way there then I can take it from there..." I trailed off, and Toni nodded softly, prying her sister off and hoisting her into her arms   
"It won't be too long, she gets tired after a few hours."

Hours? Jesus Christ.

"Awesome." 

-

Sweetpea and Fangs stayed back, since they were definitely a target walking around the northside hopped up on a weird concoction of liquor I saw them making in a bowl while we left. The ride there was weird, due to the fact that there was a tiny human nestled between my chest and Toni's back, but we eventually got to where my Impala sat. 

And not to say I wasn't grateful to be off that death trap on wheels, but nearly tripping in my heeled boots was indication enough, tossing the helmet as fast as I could and racing toward my comfortable baby. It really wasn’t fair, it was so susceptible to being broken into- and maybe not by the Southsiders since I got to see them in a new light, but a lot of Riverdale’s finest weren’t afraid at getting their hands a little dirty.

We got to the park after an additional 10 minutes where Avery just kept refuting the seat belt, causing Toni to have to lean back and constantly nab at it to keep it in place. But we eventually made it there in one piece, and at the sight of the well-lit park, Avery bounded off toward it, leaving me and Toni by a set of swings

"Care to go for a ride?" She asked, childlike wonder filling her eyes. She looked exactly the same as Avery when she got excited, and I couldn't help but smile, following her to a set of free seats.

"So," I started, digging my feet into the wood chip ground. Toni was shorter, so her legs didn't quite reach which I would comment on, but she was kind enough to take me in "Avery?"

Toni hummed, "When my parents died, I had to basically take on the parenting role. Which isn't something I flaunt, so a lot of people besides the inner ring of serpents know about her. Otherwise it leaves me weak to dickheads like the Ghoulies." 

A beat passed, and I waited till she was ready to tell me more. My eyes briefly drifted to the teeter totter. 

"Our parents didn't allowed us to play in the park." I voiced my thoughts, it was only fair after Toni told me something so personal "But one night, our parents were entertaining some rich snobs from up east, so Jason took my hand and we ran here. It wasn't too far, but for a couple of 10 year olds it sure took the air right out of our lungs" I laughed, and Toni followed.

"Averys a sweet kid." I said after another beat passed by, and she bummed in response.   
"I didn't mean to say something I shouldn't have I just-"

"No, no. It's okay. Avery has an Uh... autoimmune disease. Bones are growing in places they shouldn't like between her joints, and it's incredibly painful for her. Having to take care of her when she's in pain... it's heartbreaking. But she can’t exactly enroll in school like regular kids.” She took a deep breath, and I could see the tears in her eyes from the street lamp "Holding her when she wakes up screaming 5 times a night... Sweets helps out a lot, a lot of the serpents do. No one knows about her also due to the fact I'm not 18 yet, and they'd have taken her into foster care and I couldn't lose her.. she needed me."

The tears streaming down Toni's face made my heart clench up but I couldn't stop "How old were you when your parents died?"

"11." 

Jesus. I had a big brother who loved me and parents who sucked but still, a roof over my head and plenty of food. And meanwhile, 20 minutes away Toni was struggling to raise a baby when she was a baby herself.

"I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay, she was a baby at least so she didn't have to deal with the pain of losing our parents, which was the bonus. But I don’t exactly have the means to take care of her health right now, but I do my best, helping out at a body shop a few miles west.”

I wet my lips and decided to lighten the mood. I knew all too well the memories of losing someone you loved.

"Come on, lets see who can swing the highest!"

*  
To say it didn't end well was an understatement. Cheryl got about 10 feet in the air, lost her handling and fell on her face

"Cheryl! Are you okay?"   
Toni tried to stifle her laughter, and helped push the girl onto her back

"Yikes, you busted up your chin." 

Cheryl reached up and touched her chin, wincing at the action. She looked at her fingertips to see them coated in blood, "because my knees weren't enough..." she grumbled out

"Whadda bout your knees!" 

They turned to see Avery, beaming at them, completely unfazed by the blood dripping down Cheryl's chin. Well, living with serpents, she must've seen worse.

"Come on, Avery. You can play at home, we gotta fix Cheryl up."

-  
They arrived home on Toni's bike, figuring itd be safer then leaving her car parked in the Southside in case her parents cared enough to look around for her.  
"Okay now you," Toni grabbed Avery by the shoulders and pushed her toward the living room, where Fangs greeted her with a huge hug and musing of her hair, much to her dislike "Are watching movies with fangs."

"And you, wait here with Sweets while I get something for that nasty cut." 

Cheryl rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile at the overly-concerned serpent, leaving her with Sweetpea who was chugging down a beer

"How many of those, pray tell, have you had tonight?"

Sweets grinned notably unevenly and grabbed a plastic cup, scooping it into the half empty bowl she saw him making earlier "Never question a mans tolerance!" He laughed, getting a ‘Cheers to that!’ Back from Fangs.

Cheryl took the cup with uncertainty, and twirled the weird mix of reds and oranges, grimacing "Whats even in this?"

"A little of this, a little of that- and a shit ton of Lodge rum we nabbed the other night" he shrugged, sipping at his bottle again 

"Cher! Cm'ere!" Toni shouted from the bathroom, and with a confused look at Sweetpea who shrugged, equally as confused as to what his best friend was doing, she made her way to find the colourful serpent

"Seriously?" Cheryl mused, looking at the overly professional setup with a bunch of first aid items laid cleanly on a fold-up table in the bathroom made for one.

Toni gave her a look of dramatic, "Deadly." She made a show of snapping on some sterile gloves   
"Now sit your ass down, and shut up so I can fix you."

A few moments passed, with Toni wiping the dried blood around the redheads chin and setting up some rolls of antiseptic gauze and alcohol for topical use.

"So, what's the plan with your dad?" Toni said, barely above a whisper, gently pressing a cotton wad to the cut 

"Well," Cheryl sucked in a deep breath "I guess I just... theres nothing that can be done." 

Toni grabbed a gauze pad, spilling a bit of alcohol on it and shuffling closer to Cheryl, "FP can help. He's the sheriff, and I- we all have you," Toni dabbed it gently on the cut, Cheryl wincing in response "No ones going to let you get hurt." 

She stopped her ministrations for a moment, and pulled back a few inches, waiting for the redheads eyes to meet her own “I will never let you get hurt again, Cher."   
Toni grabbed an adhesive bandage with a smiling bear and bit back a grin at how her stomach flipped seeing the HBIC unguarded enough to even be in proximity to her, let alone put a kids bandaid on her.

Cheryl wanted to give in to her feelings; let herself feel safe and content in this moment. Toni was kind; welcoming, home. But she knew better than that. 

She blinked away the burning in her eyes, and watched the warm eyes so filled with comfort, and let the tears fall she tried so desperately to stop.

"It's okay," Toni cooed, putting a warm hand on her knee "You can feel whatever it is, youre-"

"Deviant." Cheryl cut in, her teeth grounding down. Glaring daggers at the floor. That one word seeped venom, and it almost sent a chill down Toni's spine if she weren't so caught up in the emotion pouring off the other girl

"No, Cheryl. You aren't deviant." She moved her hand to rest on the pale one "You're sensational"

And maybe it was the lightheadedness from falling off the swing, or the solo cup Sweetpea handed to her, but she let herself fall slowly into Toni's arms, barely registering what she was doing before her red lips moved from Toni's neck, along her jaw, and finally settling against Toni's lips.

The kiss was slow at first, still and soft, but it quickly became needy and fervent when Toni couldn’t resist tugging the redhead’s hips to meet her own, eliciting a soft moan. Cheryl's hands made their way into Toni's hair, tangling her fingers in the tresses, while Toni took the advantage of the shift to slip her tongue to meet the taller girls.

Cheryl pulled apart when the need for air became to much, and bit into her bottom lip as a grin made its way to her face, swiping off the bathroom sink of its products, eagerly meeting the half lidded brunettes lips once again

Toni grabbed her by the waist again, spinning her and lifting her up on the edge of the sink with way more strength then Cheryl anticipated, letting out a noise as her back hit the mirror. 

Toni smirked, that dammed smirk, before latching her lips onto Cheryl's neck. Cheryl closed her eyes as her body heated up, a flood of warmth pooling between her legs.

A moan escaped red parted lips, and she finally felt like she was an actual teenager. Sneaking behind her parents back, making out in a bathroom and getting drunk off cheaply made mixed drinks.

Toni's fingers made their way up underneath Cheryl's shirt, feeling the redheads flushed skin raise at her touch  
"Toni...” Cheryl whined, spreading her legs further apart and noticing the way her wetness made her jeans all the more uncomfortable. Toni pulled back, and kissed Cheryl's swollen lips before pulling back completely, and the redhead was already missing the other girls warmth  
"Not tonight, not in my shitty trailer bathroom when there's other people here." 

Toni must have seen the look of rejection quickly making its way onto Cheryl's face, and she reached a tentative hand out to stroke the side of her cheek "You deserve amazing. Uncontrollably passionate and... perfect." 

Cheryl swallowed the thickening feeling in her throat, and nodded dumbly, still too caught up in the way her body felt like it was on fire "Come on, let's go join the guys and get fucked up." 

Toni smiled brightly, and Cheryl couldn’t resist doing the same. For once, it felt okay. Like she was invincible, especially with a Toni by her side.


	6. When I Drink Tequila

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They’re straight up cHEESIN in this and also kind of oblivious for a reason

Cheryl woke up in the oddly comfortable bed, blinking the sleep from her eyes before blindly grabbing for a mirror, pulling the bear bandaid off and looking at the barely visible cut on her chin

"You're a goddamn witch." Cheryl laughed, and it felt easy upon seeing Toni walk in. "I know. Not the first time I've fixed up a cut."

Cheryl nodded and absentmindedly smelt her hair, grimacing at the distinct scent of sweat and... vomit? She found 

"You can take the bathroom to get ready for the day," Toni smiled lightly, trying to sound as easy as she could “You threw up in the middle of the night, if you're wondering.", before disappearing back into the kitchen leaving Cheryl to look for something to wear.

She fingered the hangers in search of something to her taste. As she suspected, lots of flannels and mesh. She decided on the yellow hoodie Toni wore the night before, and a pair of shorts she found in the bin by the dresser, and smiled softly at the faint smell of lilac and something indescribably Toni.

Cheryl made her way to the bathroom, and her cheeks flushed at the memory of the night before. She didn't get to fully acknowledge the bathroom when she was drunk and bleeding, and looked around at the small space.

The shower had half empty bottles of Toni's shampoo and conditioner, and the bathroom sink had a variety of dark makeup. She saw a few broken nail polishes in the trash, and made a mental note to pick some new ones up.

Taking a glance at her own reflection, she looked lighter. Happier. Like the darkness shed been suffocating in had finally let up and allowed her to take a deep breath. A slow smile trickled on to her lips, and with a twist of the shower nob she let the steam roll off of her, relaxing every muscle that she had tense for the past 18 years.

*T*

"So, Toni," Sweets grinned at me and I knew what he was going to say. "Nothing happened, Sweetpea. Calm your shit." I coughed, swallowed, because that wasn’t exactly true.

But Cheryl was vulnerable and hurting, and she just needed someone. That was all, and I just took advantage of the fact she was drunk and hurting and she wouldn’t remember- or we’d at least pretend she didn’t.

I bit into the cold and shitty boxed pancakes I whipped up after helping Avery who woke up screaming in pain. Thankfully, FP had the day off and took her to visit a specialist in Centerville. Well, an ex-serpent who decided to try and help out kids in need. 

Fangs was out with Kevin, and by the soft singing coming from the bathroom barely drowning the sound of the shower, Sweets caught me smiling like an idiot and automatically jumped into best friend action "Yeah, that's why you came out of the bathroom last night looking like you were about to bust one."

I got up and knocked him with my elbow in passing to the sink "Get out of here, you idiot." 

"Alright but I'm taking the rest of the pancakes!"

"Well you never did have good taste."

-

Toni sat across from Cheryl, her feet placed across her lap and a bottle of a deep red polish in her hand, flicking gently against the redheads toenails while she sipped on a glass of freshly made orange juice.

The room smells thick of nail polish. After some begging on her part, Cheryl let Toni give her a full- well, as possible as can be with the limited supplies- spa treatment. Insisting that it's what friends did, and she even managed to trick Sweetpea and Jughead into it a few times.  
The space of her bedroom is full of spotify shuffled songs and laughter and Toni smiling - always, constantly. To her, there is always something to smile about. The glass is half full. The sun is always behind the rain clouds. It's not a state of mind Cheryl's used to being around, let alone having, but with her this close, it felt like living in the eye of the storm. The rest of the world is out there, just out of reach, with its damage and carnage tearing shit up, but here, with Toni is safe, and carefree.

It was weird- Cheryl letting someone in and even weirder that they stayed after seeing the dark parts of her. But they were friends somehow. Maybe that kiss was just a heat of the moment thing, between a drunken girl and a sapphic girl, but they didn't let it come between them as an awkward thing.

After Toni set the bottle down, blowing on the freshly paint nails and hearing the soft giggle from the vixen, they settled down on the couch in the living room to watch a movie

*C*

"You're telling me youve never seen Saw?!" Toni shouted amidst the chaos of throwing random dvd's around the room. It was a classic! At least that's what shed been trying to convince me 

"My life is gory enough, Topaz." I replied, giving her a wink in place of the usual sarcastic bite I give... well, everyone except her and I guess Avery? I wasn't sure how to handle a little kid, honestly. 

After some cohorsion, mainly by threatening to tickle me again, I watched as she popped the slasher in and settled down on her patchy couch. "Grab some skinny pop!" She smiled "already on it!" A comfortable silence blanketed us as she jumped down beside me and hit play.

Her head falls on my shoulder, knees drawn up, and I can smell her shampoo in her hair. It's the same one I used this morning. It feels like ages since then - standing in the too-hot water until my skin burned red, crying at the bottom of the tub. It's embarrassing in retrospect, and though it must have been obvious that I was a total wreck, Toni still treated me well, making me feel so comfortable and not pushing me into talking or doing anything. But I've lived my life convinced that everyone has ulterior motives for everything, that people are greedy and selfish because it's a part of human nature. That I needed to be as sickly wicked and damage people down till they were nothing. And while that's true for some people - maybe even most of them - Toni's not. She's never been, as much as I would have liked her to be- and she seemed to be, but maybe that was because of the gang of guys and matching bikes and jackets but she never was how I tried to convince myself she'd be. It's much easier to hate someone than it is to like them, especially for me.

I lean my head on top of hers and let out a slow sigh. She's worked her way under my skin and maybe that's dangerous or naive, but after this weekend, I can't really complain. She took me in, helped heal my wounds and practically nursed me back from the breaking point.

The sound of my ringtone startles both of us. My phone was sitting un-disturbed in the pocket of Toni's shorts I took, and snatched my arm back from where it was snakes around her waist. One text message. I open it with the push of a button.

My heart slams against the back of my tongue.

Home. Now.

Two words that made me feel like I was drowning; sinking. Like the air I was so freely breathing before suddenly was owed back to my parents. God forbid anything be mine for long. Toni... no, Toni is not mine. I don't like her, I can't because that's deviant. Wrong. I don't deserve love. 

I kept the thoughts running thru my mind until I started to believe them, and the serpent's voice sounded distant until she put her hand on my own, and blinking a few times I turned to meet pools of brown layered with concern 

"Cheryl? What's wrong? Who was that?"

"My mother." A dry, humourless laugh "I have to go home." 

"No." 

I turned in surprise as I stood to get dressed, noticing the hand gently against mine was now tight around my wrist. She sounded stern and absolute. If I didn't know her how I did, I'd be afraid of questioning her.  
"I have to Ton-" 

"No." She cut me off "You don't. You're not going anywhere." She moved so her forehead was pressed against mine, and I swallowed hard and the fear in my throat. "I need to make sure you're safe," my eyes dropped to the floor, avoiding her gaze "And I need time to get shit together. You're gonna stay here," I rolled my eyes at how she was talking to me like a child, before finding hers again "And tomorrow after school I'll get Jug and Betty to escort you home. Alright?" 

"Toni-"

"Alright?" 

I bit my lip, and nodded softly "Alright..."

"Good girl," I couldn't help but smile at the look of relief and happiness covering her features "Now come on, were watching the entire Saw trilogy and having a bonfire with the rest of the gang tonight." 

I followed her back to the couch, and accepted the palm facing me, interlocking our hands and letting a shaky breath out as the credits rolled.

-  
Toni and Cheryl made their way out of the trailer to see the already forming group of serpents, filling cups up from the keg and passing them around, chatting absentmindedly "Serpents!" Jughead drew their attention, jumping on to the hood of an old beaten down car "Ghoulies, Lodge, the Blackwood and The Gargoyle King." He took a beat, surveying the crowd   
"As Raymond Chandler said, There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself. So, tonight, we rejoice in the small victories and everything in between!" The crowd began cheering and he held a fist up, grinning at his gang "Tomorrow is a new day, tonight is the beginning to the end of the hell in Riverdale!"

With the cheers dying down to a bearable but respectable party level- Cheryl found her way over to where Jughead was sipping on his beer "You know, Jones," she started, picking up a chip from the bowl and swallowing it as he paid no mind to her presence "I'm actually really... grateful for all you guys are doing for me." 

Jughead looked at her in surprise, and chuckled before taking another swing of his cup "Were serpents." He took a breath, shouldering one of his suspenders "It's what we do. We protect our own and uh." A soft laugh escaped him as he nodded at Toni, talking and laughing so freely with a few familiar faces "Toni would kill me if I didn't get the serpents on you. And even Sweets and little Avery went to bat for you. Well, especially Avery."

They both laughed, and unlike all the other times it wasn't awkward or tense; it was more like two people just trying to get to know each other. Maybe they'd even call each other friends. The serpents were a family and protected family, so Cheryl thought that though friendship wasn't her thing, she didn't hate the idea of being around Jughead and his crew as much as she can admit.

The sky starts to swell with darkness, teens buzzing off the beer and some off fizzle rocks, no doubt getting their asses handed back to them by Jughead. 

Toni found Cheryl laying on the grass near sweet water river, giggling as she watched the brunette approach. Toni couldnt help but smile, reaching a hand out to her “Bedtime?” Cheryl mumbled out, yawning and rubbing at her tired eyes 

“Yes you lightweight, come on” she laughed as the teen wobbled. A beer or two wouldnt have the ability to get most people even feeling a bit tipsy, and yet Cheryl proved not to be most people once again.

They made their way with sore feet, mainly due to the fact Toni had to practically carry Cheryl up the hill and into the serpent territory to her trailer. Cheryl spent 20 minutes struggling to just brush her own teeth, while Toni- after trial and error got the redhead to change, turning her back to give her privacy and a moment later needing to help her put her arms thru the sleeves. But once that precarious task was done, Cheryl passed out the moment her head hit the pillow.

*T*

Cheryl falls asleep before I do. She's facing me with her lips slightly parted in a tiny 'o' shape with her hair splayed across the pillow like fire. Her hands are pressed together and shoved beneath her head, cradling it, despite her less than elegant crash. I can hear the soft sound of her exhales, and more adorably the random snort leaving her. 

I couldn’t help but let my eyes graze over her. She had an hourglass shape, even in my oversized clothes that seemed to look perfectly fit on her form. She had soft and porcelain skin that I felt my fingertips twitch at begging to run across. Her darker brown eyes were moving under her kids, and I knew she was having a good dream by the soft smile on her mouth. If she was a cake she’d be red velvet with buttercream aaaand I’m definitely feeling the buzz of the few shots of vodka I had earlier.

She was always so tense- ready to attack at any given moment but when she slept, the usual arms crossed across her chest that made her look like her shoulders were about to turn to dust were settled and relaxed. Her icy eyes closed and safe behind her own good dreams. I wonder who narrates them briefly- who stars in her galaxy of hopes and dreams. I knew for a fact the cause of her nightmares were from deep seeded trauma too tender to touch on yet, but yet...

We were up talking for a long time the past two nights. The red numbers on the bedside table telling us it was far into the morning, but it didn’t register. We had spent the majority of the evening hours exhaling secrets across my sheets, her eyes would be light from the stories she’d tell illuminated by the lamp on my table. Words soft and she’d lose herself in laughter to the point she was crying a few times. They were private moments held with so much intimacy held behind the sheath of innocence, that neither of us could really process. Now that the weekend was over, and she was fast asleep, I kind of can't believe it actually happened, that the ice queen melted just for me, before me. We hated the thought of each other and got pissed off by the sound of the other breathing too loud not even a week earlier.

I bit my lip, and didn't realize until I tasted the metallic crimson filling my mouth that half an hour passed with me lost in thought of my- friend? Maybe more?

I was afraid that the second Monday came and the bell of first period rang- the bliss would be over and she’d freeze me out again. But those thoughts drifted, as I did into a dreamless sleep.


	7. Somewhere Only We Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this chapter sucks, I was mainly focused and intent on the next chapter I’m publishing

Hi I don’t like this chapter but it’s just a filler for the next few :)   
— 

“Come on let's get a move on, Topaz!"

With a groan, Toni swallowed the remaining bite of burnt toast and drudged out the door, ignoring the stark contrast from her dusky trailer home to the strange burst in weather. It had been raining for the past few days, and now it was as if God was genuinely smiling.

"How did you get out here faster than me?" She moaned, flopping down in the passenger seat beside Cheryl who drummed her fingers on the steering wheel "I was raised to be perfect, in case you forgot."

Toni lulled her head back after switching the stereo on, taking a deep breath of fresh air while her two serpent friends chatted animatedly in the back. 

"So, guys, did Kev tell you about the musical this year? It's a um," he snapped his fingers, brow furrowed in thought "a showcase! So we just go about our daily routine but on stage and burst into song of our choice!" 

Toni smirked, watching the same expression creep up on the redheads lips as she peered over her sunglasses into the rear view, at the blushing-badass "Oh? Kev huh?"  
They didn't say anything else, the car bursting with laughter. The rest of the ride to school was filed with singing, and quite a few aweing's from Sweetpea and Fangs everytime the two girls would interlace their hands and look at each other at a stop light, still unsure of what they were. The sun was warm on pale skin, and Cheryl couldn't help the small smile find its way to rouge lips. She pulled back into a space, and shifted into park "Ready for the interrogation?" She joked meakly, and as the boys piled out, Toni brought the redhead into a hug. She smelt like mint and rose "Everything's going to be okay,"

Betty and Veronica found the two girls standing by Cheryl's locker  
"What did you guys get up to this weekend?" Veronica smirked, gouging the light pink that made its way to Cheryl's cheeks "Drank. A lot.." rubbing her temples, she gratefully accepted the coffee Toni managed to conjure up, flashing a weak smile 

Sensing the discomfort, Toni cut in "What about you guys?"

"Ugh, Archie's been hanging around with daddy far more than respectable. I swear, it's as if they're having a love affair!" Veronica huffed, Betty rolled her eyes 

At lunch, the seniors gathered in the lounge to survey Veronica Lodge who stood perched on the table. With a loud clear of her throat, the chatter subdued "As you all know, were seniors." She paused as a few of the jocks started cheering "And since were seniors, and with all that's going on in our town, I've decided to throw a party at The Pembrooke, Friday night at 7. Sharp." Her eyes narrowed at Archie who slouched down into the couch "No bringing outside influences, or youll be escorted out." She put a hand up to silent the oncoming groans "don't worry, we have plenty to drink courtesy of the Lodge's rum." 

Veronica hopped off of her makeshift podium and joined her friend group in the corner of the lounge "So? You're all coming right?" 

"Of course we are, V." Betty smiled, though it was tight "A Pembrooke party is like no other."

Betty was poise, closed off, fearless. Not even around her loved ones did she relinquish the mask so carefully constructed it rarely faltered. Not with all going on, and certainly not when she was excited. On the off chance you'd catch her with a genuine smile, but it was a rarity. Similar to her cousin. 

"Well," Veronica started, snatching a fry from Judgead's paper bag "I intend to put Archie's little get together to shame." 

“For someone who hates Archie so much, you sure do talk about him a lot.” Jughead smirked “Perhaps an unrequited love?”

Veronica stormed out with Betty in tow.

-

"Cheryl Blossom to the office please." 

The calculus teacher glared up at the intercom, almost daring for it to interrupt his lesson again.   
“Well? Get out!” 

Cheryl's eyes darted around the room as she gathered up her things and gave a shrug to her friends non-verbal questions, slipping out before the whispering and laughter got to her “Okay, okay, settle down kids...”

She made her way to the office, leaving the nasaly voice of Mr. Bremington and peered inside, feeling her heart drop at the sight of the elder redhead she knew was her mother. If her flames of red tucked neatly away wasnt enough, the wicked aura was.

Shutting her eyes tightly, she willed the feeling of nausea down. She could run, but she also knew it would just prolong and worsen whatever was about to happen. So with bated breath, she pushed the door open and pursed her lips into a tight smile "Mother, what a pleasure."

Penelope turned and her icy eyes met the ones resembling her own, standing straighter and forcing a laugh "Oh there you are, dear. I'm so sorry for the intrusion, Mr....?" Her head whipped back to the man in glasses

"Weatherbee, but from your endless funding here at Riverdale High, please do call me Waldo." 

The older woman hummed, shaking the overly-eager hand offered to her. Cheryl felt her gut twist at the display "Her Nana Rose has fallen into a critical state so we must take her home immediately."

"Oh dear..." Principal Weatherbee cooed "Cheryl did you know about this?” 

His voice was soft and it took all her will power to avoid rolling her eyes. Her nana was on vacation in the Bahamas. She, herself was the only one about to fall into a critical situation.

“Yes, I did.”

Penelope Blossom’s lips twitched   
"Well, we must go to the hospital right away to give our condolences.”

"please wish Mrs. Blossom the best for me." His 'comforting' smile was pathetic. “I’ll let your teachers know for the remaining periods, Miss. Blossom.”

“Oh, darling.” Penelope wiped a stray tear running down the redhead’s cheek, wrapping her in a hug far too tight, her lips echoing uncomfortably in the shell of her daughters ear “You cant fight your own blood.” 

“Oh, bless her heart.” The receptionist wiped at her own glassy eyes, but Cheryl reminded seeded where she stood.

Penelope and Weatherbee exchanged pleasantries (flirty non the less), and then began ushering her daughter out of the room, softly, the halls, roughly, the school, aggressively, and the life she was growing familiar in, heinously. All the pair of tear-strained eyes could watch was the way her safety passed her by, and the warmth of Toni’s smile fluttered away to be replaced with the fearful images filtering in rapidly.


	8. I’m A Creep, I’m a Weirdo, What The Hell Am I Doing Here, I Don’t Belong Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning! Mention of self harm and child abuse.

TW: mention of self harm, and child abuse.  
-  
It'd been two hours since she was stripped of Riverdale high. Who knew she would actually want to be in that death-totem of a high school?

Cheryl sighed, flipping open a blank page of her sketchbook and gnawed at her bottom lip. The music in her headphones was too loud, but soothed the burning pain on her thighs where a few scars were forming, nestled between the velvet robe she slept in. Often times, when life seemed bleak, she would take the pain away with a resistant band on her wrist if she could, other times she relished in the cool blade gliding against the alabaster flesh it met. 

So now she lay, on her four post bed, drawing aimlessly without much thought. It was too mentally exhausting to think out a thorough sketch, so she allowed the emotions running thru her veins to take over. 

She hadn't realized she was crying till the page was cockled; woven with tears. Blinking a few times, she was met with a page with the serpent girl she'd grown fond of, the led slightly smudged. Just looking over her shoulder, with that damned smirk she always wore. 

Flipping to another page to restart; Toni's lips took up the corner. With more defirentiated parts like eyes and nose and even, hands, almost like pressing against glass, she placed her shaky hand against the drawn one. 

The next page was Toni, in only a pair of laced panties, hair to one side to reveal a dark splotch of skin near her collarbone. 

Cheryl began feeling frantic, flipping page to page. Toni Toni Toni. Getting more explicit with every turn. Cheryl sketched her thighs spread apart, being indebted with Toni's nails, head between her legs. The next was Toni's head thrown back in extacy, a lip drawn between white teeth at the feeling of a tongue between her legs.

With a deep breath, she tossed the book aside and curled into a ball, ignoring the wince worthy pain of the fresh wounds self inflicted, drifting unconscious to the still beat in her eyes.

You and I both have to hide on the outside,  
Where I can't be yours and you can't be mine,  
But I know this, we got a love that is hopeless...

-

Cheryl winced at the bottle smashing to pieces beside her, barely registering the faded sketchbook clutched in his meaty hand; focusing on the way his teeth were clenched, how his eyes bore ruthlessly into the eyes of his own child.

Cheryl woke up to her parents being gone from the house. She had settled down on the couch watching a few episodes of her favourite show she missed out on, and around 8pm as she fixed up dinner, her father had thrown her against the wall in the living room.

Clifford's hands were around her throat within a blink of an eye, and she winced at the increasing force around her neck  
"You have no respect for me. For your mother. Most importantly, for God. How many times have I told you no sin goes unseen? How dare you disobey the word of God! It's about time you were properly punished!"

Tears flowed freely down paling cheeks as her body finally went limp. She had no energy to fight anymore as she wavered between consciousness and unconsciousness.

"You deserve this, you spiteful child. You're a deviant, starving emotional anorexic." He spat,"Everything bad that ever happened to this family is because of you. Jason's death is on your hands." 

Cheryl felt her feet lift off the floor, numb hands immediately shooting to her throat to deter the crushing sensation. Briefly, she let her eyes wander to her mother, who simply stood there with no ounce of emotion plastered anywhere within her features.

Her eyes then met the cold ones glaring at her. There was no colour, simply blown up pupils almost... daring Cheryl to speak. The screaming was now becoming muffled and she felt a strange lightness overcome her body, as if she could step out of it and float away.

She knew that this was it. Her father would finally kill her. Finally be rid of the wretched child they ashamedly brought into the world. She would be free from the torture. She would maybe even meet Jason at the end. She would never have to suffer through her parents unrelinquishing abuse again.  
A small smile drifted on her lips as she forced herself to relax. It was okay. She was ready for this. Prepared to finally feel something other than constant pain.

Suddenly, her father dropped her with a loud thud. Cheryl gasped for air, laying on the cool floor and just watching thru lidded eyes as the one escape she had; the one thing that was an alternative to suffering was set ablaze in the fireplace.   
"You are to not leave this house with exception of church and school. Next week."   
His eyes narrowed at the bruises covering the redheads neck, knowing it wouldn't be excusable this time. "But before you go to your room," he made a ridiculous decision to hit her profusely in the chest with one of his golf clubs, grinning at the yelps elicited.

A sinister look took the place of Clifford's grin, searching through his aforementioned gold club kit and returning with a scowl, holding up a branding iron that glinted off the various lights in the room. 

"Oh Cheryl," his words were cold, while he heated the iron in the fire "You'll be sought out for your crimes by the lord. But it's not too late to make you good." 

Cheryl wheezed hopelessly, coughing blood out onto the carpet, eyes drifting shut on their own accord. The smell of fatty pork on a grill filling the room was disgusting, a searing pain on her forearm where the brandish met a pain she had never felt.

"Now, clean this mess up. We have church Sunday morning."

As he turned to leave, Cheryl's mother finally spoke "And you are to never see that filth of a gang member again."

The sound of heavy feet distancing allowed Cheryl the moment to open her eyes. Looking down, she saw the cross scarring into her arm, the iron laying nearby covered in her burnt skin. she couldn't stop the bile from rising once again. She stumbled over to the kitchen sink and wretched into the porcelain, expelling the poison from her body.

But the broken heart in her chest remained. The parts Toni was carefully reconstructed took the weight of her parents words; collapsing. 

-

It was sunday morning at 8 am when Clifford threw open the door to his daughters room. Cheryl lay peacefully, before he yanked her to his feet "Church is in an hour. Get ready."

A week of no phone, computer or any means of speaking to another human being. The only time she had interpersonal connection was when she was making dinner for her parents, or in passing of the maid. She spent most of the time in therapy; learning to fight the urge of sin. To be anyone but who she was. Who Toni accepted her to be.  
The rest of her time was spent bawling until her body was empty, and she could drift into a nightmare-induced sleep.

"W-why, father, I didn't think you'd want me to go..." Cheryl's voice trailed off as she fingered the fringe of her bed sheet "Didn't I say so?" Clifford glared down at her. "Didn't I say so on Monday? You're coming to repent."  
"But I--I can't! You know i-I Um..." Clifford sneered at his daughters stuttering "spit it out child!"

"They'll stare at me, father... the bruises a-and the cross..." "For God's sake, they won't care about you!" Clifford jerked his head towards the dresser. "Get some proper clothes on. Now!"  
"But, Father... please, Father why can't I just stay here..." She looked beseechingly at him, her tired eyes swimming with tears..

Clifford didn't move, instead he sat on the bed with arms across his chest "Change."

"F-father I..." Clifford narrowed his eyes, lip curling "Change." 

With trembling hands, Cheryl picked out the most concealing outfit she could, similar to the dress someone in a convent would adorn, dawdling with the hem of her pajama shirt. "I don't see why I can't change alon-"

"Clearly, dear, you can't be trusted to even dress properly."

Clifford stood in the middle of the room, watching Cheryl shift around its edges, tweaking her hair, fiddling with the curtains. Cheryl straightened up, seeing from the corner of her eye his fists shoved hard into his coat pockets. He looked embedded in the centre of the room. She collected her outfit and swallowed hard, picking at the scab on her arm. "Hurry up!" He boomed; she squeaked, but he was pointing to the bathroom door. In a flurry she fled, relieved to be able to hide at least some part of herself.

-

The reflection staring back at her in the church glass pane was anyone but her. Knee high socks, a modest dress covering every inch of her skin except her hands and face. No makeup, and hair coiled in a top-knot. With a sigh, she looked down at the light blue flats she wore and tapped them together. Blue was not her colour. But it was the colour of innocence. 

"Cheryl?" With a deep breath, she turned on her heels to face Betty "Hello dearest cousin." 

Her mouth was agape looking at her appearance "Have you joined the farm with my mother?" Her joke was weak, Cheryl couldnt even bring herself to laugh "No, just the refining image of St Faustina Kowalska, courtesy of Clifford and Penelope Blossom."

Betty took her hand, grimacing at what she said, "Come on, let's go see what Pastor Prick has to say today."

"1 Corinthians 7:4. A wife does not have the right over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband does not have the right over his own body, but his wife does. Now, what is being said in this passage?" 

That I am to be trapped in a loveless marriage and will never be my own person. 

Cheryl looked back to where she entered the church. Dark mist stretched over gateways. Faint and far beneath the earth rolled the slow drum-beats: doom. An end. Nothing else was to be seen; the expanse of the world ahead; all around was empty. Except her. Alone. She screamed but nothing came out. She cried but she had no tears. She couldn't breathe and yet she needed to gasp for relief.

"Cheryl? Hey, Cher?" The redhead met eyes with her cousin once again, who crouched by the pew she sat at with a hand rubbing the material of the dress covering her bicep "Are you okay?" 

She blinked away the tears threatening to spill over and looked around at the congregation leaving the church. With a shaky breath "Yeah, yeah I'm fine..." she mustered   
"Just need to grab some water."

"Okay well, I can wait for you?" 

She quickly shook her head "No no, I'll see you at school tomorrow. Bye, Betts." 

With legs feeling of jelly she stumbled to the bathroom, with the exception of an older woman she remembered as Joan, she could breathe "Fuck... fuck fuck fuck..." 

She splashed cold water on her heated face, willing the feeling of confusion to wither away. She felt displaced. As if she wasn't... real.

Her eyes met the ones of her reflection, and suddenly she grew tired. A force willing her to sleep. 

She slumped down against the wall, fluttering her pale eyelids closed. Her last thought was of Toni. The one person who ever saw the good in her. That gave her a chance. Who wanted her despite her deviant nature...

With that, she fell into an eternal rest.


	9. What Am I Supposed To Do When The Best Part Of Me Was Always You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes of violence

"Where is she?!"

The anger laced in Toni's words were clear as she marched into the emergency room, nearly knocking Jughead and Sweetpea to the ground as she tried to push her way thru to the glass doors separating the patients from the people.

"Toni, Toni, you need to cool it." FP came up behind the young serpent and pulled her back by the shoulder. She seethed at the touch "Don't lay a hand on me."

The boys looked at each other, and Judghead took the lead "Alright, Toni, sit down." She did so, annoyance clear in the way she folded her arms up  
"Look.. Cher's got some internal bleeding. The doc said it was from some Uh, blunt force trauma. They also found..." Jughead averted his gaze, sucking in a breath "One of the Blossom's, probably Clifford branded her..." 

The blood drained from the brunette's face "What the hell do you mean." 

"God damn Jug stop beating around the bush!" Sweets pushed him to the ground and kneeled in front of Toni "Clifford presumably beat Cheryl up. Bruises all over her neck, she has trauma in her chest from some unknown object and that sick bastard pressed a cross shaped burning iron into her skin."

A lurching feeling bubbled to her stomach "I feel sick."

"Way to go, boy..." the sheriff growled lowly, 

"Look, Tony." It was FP who spoke now "I'm Sheriff, alright? Nothing is gonna happen to he-"

"Yeah?" She growled out "I already made that promise. We all fucking did. And look where she is, Jones! Fucking look."

Toni didn't wait for a response, darting to the front desk to regard the nurse. "What room is Cheryl Blossom in?"

"Are you family?"

"Yeah..." 

The nurse didn't question it, seeing the pleading a pail look on the teens face "Room 304."

Toni ran down the halls, ears buzzing, adrenaline taking over.

She pushed her way into the hospital room and grimaced. It smelt strong of aseptic, a slight tinge of flowers waving thru from the bouquet sitting at the bedside table. 

Betty was still, sitting in the empty chair beside the eerily-limp redhead.   
"I've never seen her so quiet."

"Blue is not her colour" Toni replied, motioning lamely to the pastel walls and sickening colour of the blanket

Betty smile's in recognition "Dont ever let her know she wasn't fully done up in red."

Toni smiled weakly, sitting beside the blonde "I need to protect her.. I promised." Betty placed her hand on Toni's shoulder, squeezing comfortingly "You couldnt have known this would happen."

"But I should've- I should've been there."   
"Hey." Betty's voice lost its softness, and she looked into cold blue eyes "She needs you now more than she ever has." 

Betty stood abruptly just as the doctor walked in, a gentle expression on his face. She looked wistfully at her cousin, before leaving.  
Toni nipped at the skin of her thumb, her knee bouncing with slight nerves as she readjusted in front of the doctor whose name had slipped her mind.

"Does Cheryl have any family?"

Toni gritted her teeth at the question.  
"Unfortunately," she muttered.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" he asked, jotting something down on his clipboard. Toni rolled her eyes.

"Yes, she does. Her parents. The blossoms, I'm sure you know who they are.."

"Do you know where I can find them?"

"They have a shit ton of estates, how the hell am I meant to know which one they sought refuge in?"

More writing.

"Do you know the nature of Cheryl and her parent's relationship?"

Toni frowned, feeling the butterflies in her stomach double. "Should you be asking these questions?"

The doctor leaned forward and put the clipboard on the table. "Look, the bruises on Cheryl's neck match those of a handprint. And the deep bruise on her chest that can only be placed by someone else's will. She was attacked last night and the first place we look at is family. If you know anything at all, now would be the time to tell me."

She nodded slightly. "Her home life... isn't the greatest. She told me once of uh... some twisted biblical punishment her dad did; scars covering her knees." Another deep swallow "Theres some other tender bruises but I never asked much..."

The doctor sighed and shook his head. "Thank you, Ms. Topaz."

Toni merely nodded, swallowing the large lump in her throat. The entire situation just made her livid. There was nothing more she would like to do than to fucking stab the Blossoms 

"What's going to happen?" Toni asked suddenly 

"I'm going to arrange a social worker to pay Mr and Mrs Blossom a visit," he replied. "It might take a while but with the evidence provided, there is a good chance they will go to court for the crimes they have committed against their daughter." He took a beat, squinting his eyes as if in pain "But given the circumstance..." Toni's heart sank "Clifford is a well respected man, and has quite a bit of wealth in his name."

"So, basically it's a pointless effort." Toni hated the gut wrenching feeling of saying that. "And Cheryl?"

"Hmm, well, she is going to have to attend group therapy as well as one-on-one sessions with a psychologist. Theres tons of visible scars covering her body, self inflicted at that."

Toni's eyebrows went through the roof. There was no way Cheryl would do any of those things."You're going to have a hard job getting her to agree to that."

The doctor looked at Toni for a second. "I have a feeling you'll persuade her otherwise."

"Don't get your hopes up," Toni nearly laughed at the proposition.

"I'm sure you are aware of how important it is for her to get help. She could have died last night."

That sobered Tori up straight away and she nodded. "I'll try my hardest."

The doctor nodded and smiled. "Good."

Tori got up out of the seat and stuck her hand out. "It was nice meeting you."

"You too, Toni. Stay safe."

Before the doctor left he shot her a sad look, remorse clouding his kind eyes "Theres no way to ensure this wont happen again. But it's good she has the support she does."

Toni looked at the girl who was still yet to wake up, and walked out of the room, into the bustling corridors of the hospital. She was starting to get sick of smelling antiseptic and hearing the notable sobs from different rooms, as well as the beeping of various machinery.

The waiting room was filled with anxious men and women of all age, sitting in anticipation of the life or death news that would be given to them. Some looked bored, since unless it was a drastic bleeding out situation, a broken arm or psychiatrist admission took up to 12 hours. 

She relished in the cool air of the evening. Glancing at her phone it told her it was 8 pm. Had she really been there for 5 hours?   
Her bike was toppled over from where she made a hasty jump off, and picked up the stray helmet. 

Her thumb ran over the spare that hadnt been worn since Cheryl was with her. Holding on tighter than she needed to, her cheek against the serpent logo. Her heart was racing hard that night. It was infectious, and it were her choice, she'd never have turned the engine off.

*

To get home from the hospital, Tori had to drive past Thornhill house. She couldn't help herself as she glanced at the building. She would pass the home on occasion after a Serpent related trade farther back, but it looked more menacing knowing the pain that would happen within. The building was perfect, without even a brick out of place or any ordinary house paint chip.   
It was slightly unnerving. However, she saw something that made her slam her foot down on the brake.

The light in the living room was on. And from the one time she saw, it was just Penelope's car in the driveway.

The first thing that went through Toni's mind was irrevocable rage. Pure vengeance raced through her veins as she pulled her bike over onto the sidewalk and practically flew out off the motorcycle. That woman was going to pay for what she allowed to happen. 

Toni raced up the driveway and to the entrance of the house. She tried to open the door but it was locked. Taking a deep breath, she rapped angrily on the wood, trying to still herself from busting it open, knowing she wasn't strong enough as it was. She heard a sudden crash occur from inside the house and then a woman's voice cursed.

"Who is it?"

"Just open the damn door!" Toni yelled back. There were heavy footsteps and then the sounds of somebody fiddling at the lock. The door was pulled open and a middle-aged woman was standing behind it. The resemblance to Cheryl was uncanny. They both had striking red hair and the same piercing brown eyes.

"You're Penelope Blossom," Tori spat. She was so angry her hands were shaking, as they balled into fists.

The woman's face turned into a sneer. "What's it to you? Who are-" a sudden realization dawned on her, but she quickly grew angrier. "You're that snake."

"It doesn't matter who I am!" Toni all but growled. "Do you have any idea what your husband did to your fucking daughter? I know you were are that church. And there every. fucking. time. your bastard of husband laid hands on her."

The woman rolled her eyes. "It's none of your business."

"She's in hospital you vile woman! She's in hospital because of you not caring enough to intervene."

The woman went silent, her face blank. Before Toni could comprehend what was happening, she had stepped back inside and almost closed the door. Toni stuck her boot out and stopped it from closing all the way.

"Hell no, you're not getting out of this one that easily!"

"Get out of my house," Cheryl's mother seethed as she disappeared down the hallway and into the kitchen. Toni followed her, keeping the front door open.

"Not until you know how much agony you've put your daughter through!"

"I don't want to know!"

"You don't want to know?" Toni screeched as she stepped into the kitchen. "What kind of a mother are you? That's your daughter we're talking about! Clifford almost fucking killed her! Or do you not care if your last child dies too?"

The woman stepped menacingly towards Toni but the brunette didn't flinch. In fact, she took into account the sharp blade the woman was holding  
"Don't even think about it. You have no clue what I'm capable of."

"Oh," the woman laughed darkly "dont i? You're nothing but scum. Riverdale will soon be rid of your kind."

"Don't even fucking think about it. If you lay a hand on me, you'll regret it. I'll hurt you worse than anything possibly could. Get a taste of your own disgusting medicine, you bitch."

"How dare you talk to me like that? You're simply a child."

"And Cheryl?" Toni sneered."Shes fucking defenceless."

"I'm giving you one warning," the woman said. "Get out of my house and I won't call the police."

"Go ahead, call the police! I'm sure sheriff FP and quite a few others would love to join."

"I'm not playing games you pitiful child."

"Neither am I," Toni hissed stepping closer to the woman. Something savage crossed her features and Toni was wise enough to move out of the way as she slashed at the air she stood. Toni laughed.

"You missed you fucking deadbeat."

The woman gave an agonized cry and went after Toni again but she was quicker. The serpent sidestepped once again and without thinking about it, punched Penelope in the face. Her knuckles impacted with the woman's nose and blood spurted.

Her fist ached from the punch but the satisfaction of hurting this foul human being was worth the pain.

"You bitch!" the woman screamed as she tried to stop the bleeding. "You broke my fucking nose!"

"Now now, you probably shouldn't be swearing." She motioned to the cross above the sink window "God is always watching."

"I don't give a shit! That deviant harlot deserved everything she got and more. She shouldn't even be alive. She will burn in hell for the acts against Christ."

Toni didn't know what acts she was referring to, but didn't miss a beat.  
She couldnt halt the resentment filling her, and snapped once again. She threw another punch and this time landed the blow right in her eye with an untapped strength. She screamed and Toni grinned, just wanting to hurt this woman further. She didn't deserve Cheryl. She didn't deserve to be able to smile.

Toni kicked the crouching woman's legs out from underneath her and she went sprawling on the floor, hitting her head on the linoleum. There was a sickening crack and Cheryl's mother fell immediately unconscious, blood pooling from her head.

"Oh, shit," Toni breathed in, kneeling beside the woman's body. "Don't be dead, don't be dead. Fuck fuck fuck..."  
She leaned her head to the woman's mouth and sighed in relief when she heard the shallow breaths.

"Maybe now youll feel some of that catholic guilt..."

She hastily pulled her phone from her jacket pocket and dialled FP. He yelled, for a while, then told her he'd take care of it. 

Before leaving, she quickly worked her way upstairs and found Cheryl's room, stuffing an empty suitcase with things she knew the redhead would need. Clothes, the bright red lipstick (Cheryl could find anything else at a store, but that colour was ordered from France), a few other things like a photo album with some old weary pictures of her and Jason, and snagged up a bear she found too. It looked old; one of the eyes was missing, but it seemed important somehow. 

She made her way back down, glancing into the kitchen at the woman slowly gaining her bearings again, and slipped out the door and onto her bike, setting off to her trailer.


	10. When There’s Blood In The Water

Toni raced home, the whirring of her motorbike the only thing cutting the thick tension between the air and her own thoughts.

She hoped off her bike, dropping her helmet in a flurry, slamming open the front door to Sweetpea's trailer, emotions and thoughts racing around her mind.

"Toni?"

Fangs and Sweetpea looked up in surprise, worry and confusion etched into their expressions. Toni suddenly, and for what felt like the first time, went into full-fledged panic mode,  
pacing around the living room, her heart beating irrationally fast. What if the town found out what she did? She would be screwed. Oh God, what was she going to do?

Beating or even killing another gang member or someone of lower class wasnt a big deal, and Toni never worried about it. But the Blossoms held more power than anyone in the town combined, and could easily make her or even Avery disappear. That was never a thing she would even think of risking, and her here she was, Blossom Blood on her hand.

"Toni, what the hell are you doing?" Sweetpea asked standing from the couch 

"I messed up Sweets. Holy shit, I messed up bad." Toni replied, running a hand through her wind-matted hair.

"What are you talking about?"

Sweetpea grabbed his friend by the shoulders, holding her in spot but her eyes refused to meet his own

"I did something really bad, man." Toni whispered looking wistfully at the back of the serpent coat hanging on the door. The concern in his demeanour made her want to break down. The serpents, namely Jughead and Sweetpea were the only people in her gang that had always gotten her, understood what she had to do to protect the ones she loved. They had been acting like brothers, even if they questioned her actions at times.

"Tones, you're starting to scare me. What happened?"

Toni slumped down onto the couch and put her face in her hands. "You know who hurt Cheryl, yeah?"

"That shithead Clifford, wasn't it?" Fangs chimed in, sharing a careful look with his roommate 

"Yeah. Well, today when I was driving home from the hospital, I went past Thistlehouse and I saw... a light was on,"

"Toni, what did you do?"

"I got so, so fucking angry, guys. You have no idea. I've never been so angry in my life and so... I knocked on the door and Penelope was the one who answered it. Clifford wasn't home, which wasn't a shocker. We argued a bit and-and the next thing I knew, I was punching her and she was on the kitchen floor and there was blood everywhere."

"Jesus Christ, Topaz!" Sweetpea slumped down on the other side of the girl. "You didn't... you didn't kill her did you?" Fangs' voice was eerily calm despite the words he said

"No, fuck I'm not an idiot." Toni exclaimed looking at both boys with cloudy eyes "Do you really think I would do that?"

"I don't know, dude. Was it provoked?"

Toni swallowed thickly and bit her lip, pausing once she felt a copper sensation hit her tongue  
"Came at me with a knife..."

Sweetpea nodded and stood, shoving his hands into his jean pockets. "Okay, okay, okay. It's going to be fine. We just- we just don't tell anybody, okay?"

"'Don't tell anybody?' Really? That's your great idea?" Tori exclaimed unable to keep the hysteria out of her voice. "What happens if they find out what I did? I'm screwed!"

"Yeah, Sweets. Penelope will talk without hesitation."

"Well who did you tell?" Sweetpea relished, tossing his hands form their warm pockets

"FP. But maybe I should just go to the hospital and explain what I did to the doctor-"

"Are you crazy? That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard!"

"Fine! I won't tell anyone else! But promise me, guys promise me you'll take care of Avery if anything happens." 

Toni was well past crying now, her cheeks flushing and eyes wide; pleading for Sweetpea to help her. But he couldn't save her from this, it was her own mess to clean up. 

"Of course we will, Toni. We always have and we always will."

Toni flung from the couch and wrapped her arms around Sweetpeas neck, holding him tightly. The tears finally started flowing down her cheeks and onto her friends shirt

"I'm scared, Sweets."

"Penelope wont be a prob-"

"No, I know I don't... care." She took a shaky breath "Cheryl, she just... has to be okay."

He rubbed her back soothingly "Just go home, get some rest, and in the morning I'll give you a lift to the hospital before I go to school. Alright?"

"...Should I tell Cheryl?" Toni mumbled after a moment 

"I think you should. She's going to want to hear it from you, Toni. I doubt she'll be that angry, anyhow."

Toni nodded into his shoulder.

"Okay, okay, you're right."

Toni let go of her death grip on Sweetpea and without another word, headed out to her trailer. 

-

"Toni! What happened to your hand?!" 

Avery saw the blood on her sisters hands the second she walked into the trailer. Her eyes were dark, and Avery knew nothing good came of Toni randomly speeding off without a word after Jughead called her. 

"Nothing, Aves. Come on, let's get you ready for bed," Toni tried, rubbing at the tear tracks on her cheeks, but Avery pointed the fact she was already in her pajamas. She was out of it, in her defence "Toni, talk to me."

"Talk to you?" She snapped back "Youre a kid who I'm supposed to be raising. You know the rules." For emphasis she sent a pointed look to her younger sister, who just shook her head "I'm going to be a serpent too someday. I know what blood means. So whos blood is it."

Toni grabbed her sister- not hard enough to bruise her, but hard enough that she could flimsily tether her around "Bed. Now." The brunette instructed once they were in the small spare room of the trailer. She got a grumble in reply and sighed while shutting the door, clenching her stained fist and marching over to the bathroom.

After wiping most of the Blossom's blood of her hands (figuratively, at that), she took a while to calm down in the small inlet kitchen. The cool rim of her first beer in months helped soothe the forming-bruises, as well as her overly hot head. A book lay open in front of her; she knew that Cheryl adored drawing. She'd never admit that she watched the redhead closely for a good while before actually speaking.   
It was a shitty drawing of half of the redhead's face. Eraser marks indenting the page, lines all over faded from re-attempting them hundreds of times. It was stupid; childish even. Drawing her crush. She spent days on trying to get half of Cheryl's portrait decent, meanwhile itd take Cheryl maybe an hour tops to create something better. 

With a groan, she tossed the empty beer bottle into the trash and ran off to her room, collapsing on her bed and fell blissfully asleep, unaware of the pair of eyes watching her from the window.


	11. Supercut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damn it’s been a whileeeeeeee idk if this story is even good anymore ah okay ty for all your support ily guys :”) hope you’re staying safe!!!

Havent written in a hot minute. Lost inspiration, fell in love and here we are :) sorry if my writing sucks I'm trying to get back into it! But thank you for 1k reads :)   
-

"Cher, be reasonable about this," 

Cheryl was now sitting up in the hospital bed, waking up a few hours prior. She was looking much better than she had been before. Her cheeks were a healthier color and her famous HBIC look was adorned on her face telling Toni and Betty that she was feeling back to her old self again. The thought both pleased and exasperated her

"I'm not fucking crazy." Cheryl hissed in response "I don't need to see a therapist."

"I never said you were crazy," Toni replied, trying to appear as calm as possible, despite the dull ache in her head "But you've been through something really traumatic, babe." Cheryl ignores the fluttering in her chest, Toni tried not to stutter over the endearment "It's really important that you talk to somebody about it. Before you do, or someone else, does something even more drastic than this." She gestured to the hospital bed, eyes careful to avoid the scars sneaking past her hospital gown.

Cheryl rolled her eyes but didn't say anything, screwing a cap off her nail polish. This left Toni pondering for a moment. Her lip was tucked into her teeth infamously; thoughts running a mile in her head.   
She knew that the redhead finding out about what happened to her mother was inevitable, but the reaction was something she wasn't so sure about. 

Betty found out, of course, thru the tightly spined web of serpents. She wasn't phased, and offered to come just in case of needing to fight Blossom blood with Blossom blood. So far, she sat idly by and averted her gaze from the tense conversation.

"So," Toni swallowed deeply, Cheryl's only indicator she was listenting was a quick quirk of her brow "After I left the hospital last night I passed by Thornhill." 

The room fell even more painstakingly quiet, the nauseating smell of polish doing nothing to calm the churning in the serpents stomach.

"Did you now."   
Cheryl's voice was steady, eyes briefly flickering up at the pinkette, brush never leaving her long nails "Y-yeah, Uh... Cher I, listen... I messed up."

Toni felt like she was about to pass out.   
Cheryl felt a cold surge thru her body and adjusted the knitted blanket her nana made for her across her lap, refusing to let the anxiety crash into her. 

"Your mother, Uh..." Toni swallowed, her body stiff as she thought out her next words. What was she supposed to say? Sorry for almost killing your mother? With a deep sigh, her head lolled down "she's in the hospital- a hospital. Not sure where but.. FP is taking care of it and I'm just.." Toni swallowed thickly, blinking back the tears threatening to spill over. She wasn't about to cry in front of someone who nearly lost their life, especially over something she caused. "I'm so sorry." 

For a moment neither spoke. Deep breaths came from the brunette, while her counterpart sat eerily still, letting a drop of red roll down the brush onto her hospital gown. It was a grotesque mix. Pale green stained with red polish. 

Maybe that would be it. Cheryl would tell her to get out and never speak to her again. Maybe she'd burst into tears and try to put her into a bed in a spare room. 

Toni wrung her hands in nervousness, butterflies fluttering in her stomach. She felt slightly queasy, worried that what she had done would taint their relationship. Toni wouldn't blame her for being angry. Despite how disgusting that woman was, she was still her mother. It was for this reason that Toni was shocked to see the slow-appearing grin starting at pale lips, a rush swarming over her as the syrupy-sweet laughter carried her heart.

Cheryl was... laughing?

"Wh-what's wrong?" Toni spoke in bewilderment. A mischievous spark gleamed from chestnut eyes and Toni briefly wondered if the meds they were prescribing the vixen with were actually affecting her morality.

"Wrong? Toni, you're my saviour," Cheryl cackled. "You did what I've never been able to do. You stuck up for me and I will forever be grateful."

"Even though I almost killed her?"

Cheryl took a breath and let her shoulders roll back. "The bitch deserved it. She would watch as my father physically attacked me on a regular basis and did nothing but egg him on. I hate her more than you will ever know."

Toni didn't know whether to be relieved or concerned at the redheads reaction, but didn't press it, knowing it wouldn't do any good spurring an argument. 

"Besides, it sounds like she'll survive. Where is she? In this hospital?" Cheryl asked with a smile toying her lips, sitting up further in the bed. "I want to see her. And laugh at the miserable state she's in."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Toni reasoned, deciding that she should probably intervene for the good of all in the building. Cheryl was getting excited, her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkling with a strange kind of madness that made Toni uneasy and filled with joy all at once.

"God forbid a single hair be out of its tight place on her crown."

Toni's heart warmed at the girls smile, and she couldn't help but let a laugh slip past her lips at seeing the typically stoic ginger so carefree. It was a little messed up laughing about her mother being beaten by her friend, but Toni didn't want to ever hear that laugh end. 

"Relax," the redhead smiled, leaning back into the bed "I'm not going to hurt anyone. You did what I wish I could have all these years." Cheryl smiled, looking up from her pale rose lashes. "Thank you." 

Toni tilted her head, eyebrows furrowing in confusion "For what?" 

"Protecting me." 

The room fell quiet again, this time the girls engulfed in a comfortable silence as they busied themselves with makeup and sharing occasional looks of unspoken words.

-

"Hey Jughead," Betty greeted into the receiver as she shut the door to Cheryl's hospital room as quietly as she could. Neither girl really noticing her there, nor her leaving.   
"Hey Betty," Jughead greeted back warmly, thankful for the distraction from cleaning his bike "How was hanging out with our beloved Romeo?" 

"It was fucking awkward being stuck between their strange dynamic of being in love and yet still kind of resenting each other. But, Cheryl's doing better. Want to meet up at pop's? I could use something to eat other than chips from the vending machine." 

"Sure thing," Jughead's smile was clear as day in his voice "I'll swing by and pick you up in 10." 

The blonde pocketed her phone and turned to focus in on the said vending machine blinking at her. "I'll see you the next time one of us nearly dies." 

With a roll of her eyes and a text to Toni saying goodbye, she was off.

-

There was a knock on the door and a doctor came in looking stern. "Come now Ms. Topaz, you know visiting hours are over."

Toni crossed her arms across her chest, puffing her cheeks out as she tried to cool her temper "I should be allowed to see her whenever I want to." Cheryl snickered from behind the pinkette, heart swelling despite her attempts to cease it.

"Miss Blossom needs her rest. I must insist that you come back later."

Toni was going to protest but a soft hand on the cusp of her elbow stopped her. "It's okay, TT. I'll see you later. You should be getting ready for school after all."

She wasn't wrong. It was nearly midnight and she still had to drive home and clean herself up. 

Toni scoffed "I'm sure I won't be missed."

Cheryl's fingers tickled a path down from Toni's arm to her thigh. "You know you have to go. Update everyone and make sure my vixens haven't completely undone the training I've instilled upon them."

The serpent nodded, dropping her voice to a whisper   
"Cher, your parents have been caught. Don't do something that might jeopardize that,"   
Toni spoke softly, even if they both knew the blossoms were far from done their torment, It was important that Cheryl didn't put herself into an even more dire of a situation.

Cheryl slumped back against the pillows and scowled. "Yeah, I know you're right. I'm just annoyed that I can't see dearest Penelope while she's been knocked down a peg. I want to see what you did to her."

Toni bit are her lip, hoping that the alabaster teen would never see the violence that she had reduced to. Was raised to reduce to. "I'd rather you didn't. I'm ashamed of what I did."

Cheryl scoffed. "If the roles were reversed, I would have done exactly the same thing."

Toni gazed into the deep pools of her friends eyes, searching for a sign to back away, to get up and leave. That there was no hope. But the slight match set a fire alight within her, and all she could find was adoration and sincerity in those warm swirls of chocolate. Her heart flipped and with a leap of the courage that somehow gave out each time she was met with the fiery beauty; leant down, brushing her lips against the ones she desperately ached for.

"Thank you," Toni breathed before kissing Cheryl properly, wrapping her arms around her former enemies neck and moving to lean atop of her, hands gripping at the bedsheets.. Cheryl replied with just as much vigor, nipping at Toni's glossed bottom lip. Their tongues met and Toni made a low sound in the back of her throat, only spurring the taller girl on, her hands running down the brunette's back, grasping at her hips and pulling their bodies to meet.

They no longer felt like Cheryl and Toni. With their bodies melded so perfectly together, it felt as if everything around them slowed down and a song hummed it's way from one touch to another. 

Toni broke away when air became a necessity, Cheryl smiled warmly, running her lips down Toni's neck, kissing the hot skin she was met with. 

"Who knew beating up my mother would be such a turn on?" The redhead teased. Toni chuckled and leaned her forehead against the girl below her. 

"I'll be back as soon as Im able to. I have to meet with the serpents tomorrow night at the White Whirm but I'll be back." 

Cheryl nodded, pushing one of the pink strands back behind Toni's ear 

Toni's thumb trailed softly against the full bottom lip that was forming a smile. Placing a chaste kiss on plump lips before slipping off the bed and out the doors of the hospital to her bike and impending thoughts. It was possible that getting Cheryl discharged from the hospital would be difficult because of the situation with her mother and Toni was slightly worried about what was going to happen. She wasn't an expert with the law, only the parts that concerned what the gang did, but she knew that this would most likely be taken to court. That's what happened with child abuse cases, wasn't it? Or in a town like Riverdale, with a monarchist type family such as the Blossoms, that seemed like the farthest thing from happening.

She felt her phone suddenly vibrate and she pulled it out of her jeans, confusion crossing her face as Reggie's name flashed up onto the screen.

"Hello?" she answered as she adjusted her footing on one of the bikes pedals.

"Hey, Toni. I haven't heard from you in a while," Reggie chuckled. He sounded strange, Toni noted. As if he had a cold.

"We don't exactly cross paths, Mantle." She sighed "So, how are you? You sound kind of weird."

"I-well... do you think we could meet up?"

Toni frowned and checked the time. 12:14 am. 

"Are you sure you're okay? Do I need to be worried?"

The football player laughed but it sounded forced. "Can you just come over to my house? You know my address."

"Now?"

"Yeah, now."

Toni hesitated for a moment "Alright, I'll be there in ten."

The line went dead while her motorcycle roared to life, sputtering as she pulled out of the parking lot and sped thru the backroads to Reggies.  
She was slightly worried about the boy. He had sounded so odd on the phone. She just hoped it wasn't anything that would require much of her time. Toni didn't think she could handle anything more. The last few weeks had been hell.

Ten minutes actually turned to fifteen but she finally arrived without any injuries. Toni parked in the Mantle's driveway and quickly worked her way up to the door.

Reggie stood there and he looked... awful. His face was pale and he had dark bruises underneath his eyes, as if he hadn't slept in days. His hair was bedraggled and greasy. Toni merely stood there, gaping at him. He looked like a zombie.

"Holy crap," was all she could manage.

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the sentiment, Topaz."

Toni shook her head and tightened her arms across her chest "Sorry man, you just look... awful. Can I come in? It's freezing out here."

"Of course."

Toni followed Reggie inside, leaving a trail of rainwater on the wooden floorboards. It was nicer then she remembered from the brief time she spent in a packed crowd after another Riverdale High football game won.

Reggie disappeared into the house as she surveyed the lot and came back with a deep brown drink swirling in crystal in his hands. Toni took it gratefully, throwing it back and letting the warm feeling bubble in her stomach take over. The boy flopped onto the couch and groaned, rubbing his forehead. Toni stood there awkwardly before perching on the armrest of the adjacent loveseat. She hadn't been in here that often and was always surprised at how clean it was. There were no clothes strewn about, no rubbish on the tables and everything seemed in a meticulous order.

"Listen ive got a bit of a..." He chuckled humourlessly "Business proposition, that I think you could be interested in." 

"What, jingle jangle?" 

It was no secret what Reggie ran under the table. Jingle jangle, sex rings, that weird tickling business he joined Kevin in. It didn't take a genius to tell he was high out of his mind at the moment either.

"Not exactly. Look, I know the serpents dont give a fuck about helping out in shit they could get fucked over for." That was true "And I know the boys will follow whatever you have to say" Also, true. "So I need you to hop on board and help deliver some... packages, across the tracks for me." 

Toni gritted her teeth, thankful for the rum calming her nerves "Whats in the packages." 

Reggie grinned devishly, hopping up onto his feet and clamouring over to the pinkette, his face inches from hers "Don't worry about that, Topaz. You should however," he disappeared into another doorway and Toni seriously considering leaving before he totally lost his mind "You should be asking whats in it for you!" 

Toni looked at where Reggie now stood, pillowcases filled with money by his feet "Holy fuck, Mantle..." 

He grinned, smacking her hands away from the money she reached for "Ah ah ah, you can touch it as much as you like when it's yours. So, are you in?" 

Toni Topaz's life never stopped being a whirlwind of chaos and bad ideas, did it?


	12. Hope Youre Gonna Forget That Youre Gonna See Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m getting a lot of hate about this story should I continue it? :(

My writing is so subpar rn my godddd I don't know why. Please bear with me ♥️ I have some good chapters lined up that I wrote before this one. Once my exams are over I'll definitely be fixing some gaps and writing way more. :)

-

Toni lugged a crate into the back of the truck bed, swiping at the sweat dripping down her forehead. These things were probably around 20 to 30 pounds each, and the serpent gang had been going at it since dusk. The air was warm due to the change of seasons,and if that wasn't enough the smoke from the idling trucks and sticky leather jackets kept it uncomfortably insulated. 

"Hey, Tiny," Sweet Pea greeted, tossing a cool bottle of water at the brunette who downed it greedily "Ready to head back?"Toni gave him an obvious look, "No shit, Sweets. My arms feel like theyre about to fall off." She emphasized, rubbing at the throbbing muscles beneath her jacket. If she had to lift another crate filled of sweet pop she was sure her body was going to collapse onto the tracks, and she wouldn't move if a train came. She was exhausted. They all were. 

"So, have you heard from Cheryl?" His voice was tentative. Toni couldn't help but grit her teeth together at the question. 

That night when Toni left the hospital was the last night anyone saw Cheryl Blossom. It'd been a month, and no one had suspected for her to take off without so much as an explanation. Just a note with a red lip print taped to Toni's trailer door. 

Thank you for saving me, TT. Do not come looking for me, mi amour. This is something I have to do on my own. 

Yours, Cheryl Blossom. 

The line between friendship and romance was so incredibly blurred she didn't know how to take it. 

"No. And I doubt I will," she chuckled bitterly, staring off into the empty railway. "If Cheryl doesnt want me around, I won't be."

That wasn't necessarily true. She was self destructing trying to find where the redhead could have possibly taken off to. Countless sleepless nights filled with tossing and turning, cold sweats staining the bed because of the worst case scenarios popping into her mind. It was frustrating to say the least.

"Don't worry. I'm sure she'll pop up in the classic pompous Cheryl bombshell way," he teased. But it fell on deaf ears. How could her once sworn enemy she took under broken and barren wings just leave without even a proper goodbye? Especially with the blossoms gearing up for whatever they had in store for the pinkette and her gang of Serpents. "Let's just go drop the order at the Boinne Nuite and be done with it," 

Sweetpea wasn't about to argue with that, and neither was the rumbling of his stomach. They hopped into the bed of the truck and set off to the nightclub, Fangs batting at the bigger boys hand who kept sneaking its way into the bag of Doritos 

-

One of Jugheads favourite things was mudding. Hopping into an RV and sending it at 80 miles an hour down a dirt path that he didn't know where would end him up. Him and his dad had been doing it since he was a kid, but with FP being busy with keeping Riverdale as moral a corrupt town could possibly be, and now handling the Reggie operation covertly, he hadn't gotten the chance to really do much with his son. The beanie clad boy didn't think much of it after his father bailed on him when he was around 12, leaving him in the hands of the older serpents. So when Betty approached him in the student lounge after a particularly dreary rain storm, he definitely didn't expect her to suggest it.

"Hey, Jug," the blonde greeted with a soft smile, batting at his feet sprawled on the couch so she could sit "Whats up?" 

"Just trying to finish my chapter for my book, aaaand-" he fumbled with the keys, a final albeit over the top smash of the space bar signalling his triumph "-Done! I'm all yours," he smiled warmly, which she couldn't help but return. No matter how long they were together for, Betty could never get over the kindness Jughead held inside him, amongst an endless plethora of knowledge and ambition. 

"What would you say," her voice was soft, fingering the hem of his shirt "to a little off roading on the south side after school?" Betty smiled slyly, gauging the other teens reaction. It was a mix of confusion, amusement and he didn't bother hiding the flare that lit up his brown eyes "Seriously?" He scoffed, crossing his arms across his chest "And what, might I ask, spurred on your sudden taste for dirt and danger?" 

Betty rolled her eyes but if you had asked her yesterday if she'd ever even consider partaking in the recreation she would have probably laughed. Massive schemes, mental deficits, solving murder and mysteries were her type of thrill, not so much a sport that required her to get filthy.

"I just think with all that's going on," What with her cousin being missing, her boyfriend being mixed in a drug cartel and the endless cases of horrors to sort thru, being considered something on the side of normal "It might be nice to do something you love." 

Jughead mused, squinting his eyes at her. "Who said I love it." He mumbled over a bite of the sandwich he'd replaced his laptop for. even though he pretended it didn't matter to him, the excitement was still clear as day in his voice 

"Come on, serpent king," Betty teased "Youre not scared of a little competition, are you?"

A moment passed where Jughead just picked at a slice of salami sliding out of the sourdough, before he unceremoniously tossed it on the coffee table and quickly scooped his girlfriend into his arms, 

While the serpent rushed out the lounge with Betty half way thrown over his shoulder, their two best friends were nearly ran over "Were going mudding!" Betty answered their questioning looks on behalf of them both, "Are you coming or what?!" She yelled out to the two shell shocked teenagers who slowly slipped further away as Jughead picked up his pace 

-

Jughead leaned back on his dusty RV, hands clasped behind his head and an inconsealable grin plastered on his face. Betty was tightening the straps of her boots on a notably smaller vehicle, adorned in pale pink and greens practically stamped with Jellybeans name on it. Across from him, Archie was filling his respective bike with oil, Veronica leaning her weight on his shoulders, "So," the youngest lodge girl perked up "Whats the prize for winning this barbaric game exactly?" 

"Well Ronnie," Archie chortled the bike's handle, smiling victoriously as it hummed back at him "Winner pays for the loser's pops orders for a whole month." 

Veronica raised a brow. Owning the speakeasy downstairs of the diner didn't mean she got burgers and fries for free. She wasn't opposed to the idea.

"Alright Betts, let me show you how it's done," Jughead came up behind her, helping her settle into the seat "This here," he motioned to one of the handles "Is the throttle. It's like a motorcycle, you pull on it and you take off. Got it?" She nodded, testing it with a light squeeze 

"So how'd you know about this path?" Betty asked as she settled into the bike and got used to the thrumming of the engine.

"Just Uh..." he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, sharing a look with his friends who shrugged uselessly "A place south side kids went to hook up, party. That kinda stuff. It got cleared up and summer before Riverdale High, we," he motioned among the other couple "Would hang there pretty much all the time."

Betty shot him a questioning look, turning to Archie "So you lied about those 9 to 3 swimming lessons?"

"Yeah, even Veronica made up flute lessons," Archie said with playful indignation, disregarding the face Veronica was making "Didn't make those up Arch, I just did them in the afternoon..."

"So the only one left in the dark about your secret hangout was me and," Betty made a show of flipping her ponytail dramatically, flourishing with a scoff "quite frankly, I am very much offended." 

The other three were quiet, guiltily avoiding her gaze. "Guess that means I get a head start."

Jugheads face was flush in embarrassment. Veronica hopped onto the back of Betty's bike, and Archie came up beside them.

"Ready."

"Set."

"Go!"

They all sped off down the path one by one, taking a different route thru the trees. The forest was astir with life, the sun parting thru the foliage and bouncing off the puddles left over from the previous nights storm. The air was dense, but refreshing in contrast to the towns constant smell of gasoline and something no one could really figure out. 

All three bikes ripped thru the clearing that broke away from the main road and picked up speed, a trail of tire tracks and kicked up dirt in their wake. 

Jughead smirked at his best friend whos eyes were lit up, his grip tightening on the handle bars and positioning himself slightly bent over the mileage meter, picking up speed once the gleaming water came into view.

Archie and Jughead were neck and neck, until wisps of blonde and black pulled up in front of them, effectively cutting them off and scaring them at the sudden obstacle "Jesus fuck, Betty!" Jughead bellowed out, letting out a deep breath as he applied the gas again, smirking softly at the laugh he was met with. Yep, she was certainly his perfect match. 

Betty with Veronica in tow slowed as they pulled into the small rocky clearing by the water, cheering as their boyfriends skidded into the clearing as well. "Well well," Betty mused as she climbed off the RV and smiled impishly at the serpent "Looks like the student beat the master." She hummed happily, sauntering up to kiss Jughead

With an exasperated sigh that only seemed to amuse Betty further, Jughead loosened his embrace and let his arms drop to his side again, "I gotta piss." 

"Classy, Jug." 

The boy shrugged, adjusting his beanie as he walked off into a little divit by the edge of the water, sniffling as he got closer. There was something... off in the air. More so then the usual smell of the town, something not even the water could cover up. 

Something inside Jughead told him to investigate. It was probably some animal droppings mixed up with sea scum, but it was worth looking into. The scent was putrid, after all.

He stocked closer, the smell becoming almost unbearable; stomach churning. There was nothing he could see, really. Just more and more forest floor with roots of the trees levelling out. He shrugged the strange feeling in his gut away and turned to leave, only to slip up in the mud and collapse to the ground with a groan. 

"Jug? You alright?" Archie's voice sounded, "Yeah yeah!" He called back with a sigh, his jacket caked in mud. 

Mud with a strange metallic smell to it. He grit his teeth as his face ran cold, glancing down to see a pale body hidden beneath the earth. 

Fuck.

"Jughead, are you okay?" Betty's voice was worried  
"Betty, I need you to step away." Jughead's voice was steady- his head tilted down at the ditch he lay in. 

Maybe it wasn't a ditch, more so a grave someone tried to make. 

"Jug, what the fuck is going on?" Archie and Veronica joined the blonde, standing a few feet away from their friend. They'd never seen him like this. 

"Veronica get Betty out of here."

"What, wh-" 

"NOW." 

There wasn't room for question. Veronica glanced at her boyfriend with confusion and worry filled in her eyes, he just nodded "Go." 

Silence passed as the two girls left the woods, leaving the two boys alone "Jug?" Archie tried tentatively. With no response, he came up beside Jughead and narrowed his eyes "What.. what is that?" He asked, leaning in to get a better look "Jug is that-" 

"A body." The serpent confirmed, swallowing the bile in his throat and slowly began to survey the rest of her body. The blood had cascaded like a waterfall down the front of her body and gathered in a small pool, dried up by the crimson smile lining her throat. 

Her arms and legs were bent at awkward angles as though she was a marionette that had been carelessly dropped. He sighed. Her body was devoid of the grace it once knew. He looked away. She was dead. 

"Penelope Blossom's body."


	13. I’ll fuck you up if you’re mean to bugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Idk what I’m doiNG ANYMOR-

"Cheryl, you have to talk to me!" 

The brunette was met with eyes filled with contempt. The words came to her, dancing around on her tongue but she couldn't speak. She knew not to speak.

"It's your fault." Cheryl spat back. No one else was around, and yet it felt like a million voices were speaking; a million eyes watching her. "You did this to me." 

Toni's eyes followed the path of Cheryl's, down to the blood seeping thru her clothes. Bruises were developing on soft alabaster skin, red rimming once fiery eyes. "Im sorry I never meant for you to get hurt-" Toni choked out a sob, trying to reach for the gingers hands, but she just seemed to slip further away from her grasp "Please Cheryl, please don't leave..." 

"You should have died instead of Jason." 

Toni felt her heart stop at the words that left her mouth. She sounded angry, as if something was possessing her. But what was worse was the look on Cheryl's face. So broken and lost "No- Cheryl I- Please wait-"

Toni woke with a start, groaning at the thumping in her head and pounding at the door to her trailer. Casting a glance to her bedside table the old digital alarm clock beamed 3:42 am. It had taken her two hours to fall asleep, slaving over a stack of homework she'd neglected while spending her time with Cheryl. 

Cheryl. Even when she wasn't around, she was all consuming. 

Toni threw the covers off of her and stumbled into the kitchen, careful not to wake Avery up as she pulled the door of her trailer open to reveal a disgruntled looking Jughead and Betty, Archie and Veronica trailing a few feet behind. Their faces were solemn; stoic. "Um, hey guys?" The pinkette greeted half heartedly "What are you doing here?" 

"We need to talk, Toni." Betty answered on behalf of the group, looking past her to the living room "Can we come in?"

"Uh," Toni scratched at her head, blinking a few times to gather her bearings "Yeah, okay?" 

-

"Dead? Are you sure?" 

The core four looked amidst themselves, sipping at the coffee Toni had made for them due to the ungodly hour and pounding headaches they all were facing. "Yeah," Archie modded solemnly "It was... fucked up."

"Half of her head was..." Veronica inhaled between her teeth "Smashed in like a pumpkin.."

"Toni, um..." Betty grimaced at her best friends comment,Jughead squeezing her shoulder reassuringly "You dont.. think it could be Cheryl, do you?"

The words tasted bitter on the blondes tongue and felt like poison to Toni's ears "What the fuck did you just say?"  
Grasped in one hand was her mug looking as if she was about to crush it to pieces. She's livid - anger bunching her brows together, pursed lips, and usually doe-like eyes narrowed and sharp - more like a ferocious bear than any deer

The harshness of her sudden outburst made her friends flinch, but she didn't really care about their precious feelings whit what Betty was insinuating 

Jughead was methodical. Always planning. The cogs in his head never stopped turning. He didn't even take a beat before cutting into the tension-filled conversation.  
"Look, isn't it weird that Cheryl skips town and then suddenly we find her abusive mothers dead body in the brush?"

It was weird. Toni sighed "I know that Cheryl hates her mom but I doubt she's capable of murder." 

Jughead looked skeptical, but didn't press the matter, knowing better then to push Toni about matters that came to Cheryl. Archie not so much. "You have no clue what the head bitch in charge is capable of..." 

Toni's jaw clenched, fiery eyes glaring at the red headed boy who was being scolded by his girlfriend. He was vapid at times. She cleared her throat to avoid biting his head off before speaking "Well, as much of a pleasure this has been, I'm damn tired." 

The group all stood, thanking her for the coffee and the girls sharing a few hugs before they filed out of the RV, Jughead pausing at the door, soft features illuminated by the moon   
"Just.. Be careful, alright? Theres already been so many murders around here." 

"I can take care of myself, Jug." Toni replied, although grateful for her best friends concern.  
It was too much, all that been happening. Cheryl left her and now she was a suspect in her own mothers murder. 

The serpent decided there was no point in sleeping, knowing there was a slim chance she'd be able to with the procuring thoughts in her mind, instead flipping on the TV and cracking open a chilled bottle of beer.

-

School was mind numbing. But with Reggie's operation in full swing, Riverdale High's students found it a bit easier to withstand even the most painful of Principal Honey's morning announcements. 

So during practice, the River Vixens were practically bouncing off the walls; minds sharp as ever and adrenaline pumping. To the co-captains in charge due to the HBIC's absence, who weren't participating in the sugar packet mimicking fun; it was like the rest of the team chugged a shit ton of pre workout. 

"It's like a bunch of amped-up addicts," Veronica cut into the silence, surveying the girls who performed maneuvers none of them were capable of before the influx of drugs. "Well, the serpents are being paid pretty damn well so I'd imagine so." Toni said, turning to face the other two "So um.." her voice lowered "Any new news about Penelope?" 

Betty casted her best friend a look and shrugged, eyes fixated on the cheerleaders practicing over Toni's shoulder "Jug thinks someone must've snuck into the hospital and knocked her out then escaped without anyone noticing, maybe wanted something from her then tried to get rid of the body. Of course, not very well."

The pinkette nodded softly "Do you think.. Cheryl knows?" Even saying her name panged her with a wave of sadness "I dunno, Toni." Betty answered, her voice threaded with sympathy. 

"Aaanyway," Veronica perked up, smiling in attempt to change the uncomfortable topic "Are you guys coming to Archie's party this weekend?" 

"Is there ever a weekend northside kids don't have a party?" The serpent quipped with a laugh, grateful for the determent "You'd think so, but none of us hardly ever actually study so, why not?" 

"Holy shit!" Josie exclaimed catching the other girls attention. Their reflex of shock quickly melted into laughter at the sight of one of the River Vixens running around shouting happily with her uniform in one hand, a speaker blaring Shut up and drive by Rihanna in the other as she ran across the field, the football team whooping in encouragement 

In that moment, with her friends beside her laughing, and feeling as if she was finally experiencing a carefree high school career; Toni felt okay, like maybe she'd be alright without Cheryl. 

Until the drugs wore off, that was.


	14. DoNt mEss WitH mE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My writing is a fever dream it’s so not good and yeah I could just not upload it but idk maybe someone’ll wanna read it?

It was barely 9 am on Friday morning when Toni Topaz emptied another small packet into her mouth, relishing at the feeling of the small dust like minerals dissolving on her tongue. Reggie really did know how to clean house with the shit he came up with.   
The serpents were racking in more money then they could stash, and Toni was barrelling packets of the drug every time the high before came crashing down. 

Devil Dust, as Reggie has patented it once it became more in demand, was a stimulant and kept her mind off the things she rather not face, like the gut wrenching feeling that never subsided since Cheryl left. She could taste it going in, clean and cold rushing down her throat like menthol; a rush of pure please straight to her brain; setting every nerve on fire.

She tossed the empty packet into the trash and exited the trailer, inhaling a refreshing breath of the spring air. She had the day off (or at least was taking a mental health day from classes) to indulge in a relaxing day with her best friend and sister.

Fangs and Avery were there to greet her by the motorcycles; in a heated debate over which jellybean flavour was the best "Hey, kiddo," she beamed, ruffling the fluffy brown curls, a tongue poking out at her in response "I'm not a kid, Toni. Soon enough I'll be running with the Serpents." Avery boasted, puffing her chest out proudly to both Fangs and Toni's amusement 

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say, cheech." 

Fangs noticed the light pink dust nestled into the corner of Toni's lip but said nothing of it. After all, things were going well for them all, so what if they wanted to celebrate? Which led them to where they were now, on the south side about to head to pop's and then drop Avery off at the Jones/Cooper residence to hang out with Jellybean. FP and Alice were more than willing to take care of Avery during the week and even the weekends, which is why she spent most of her time out of the south side. It was probably best. Away from the danger in a room bigger then a crawl space with warm showers and homemade meals each night.

"Come on kid, you're riding with me." Fangs smiled softly at the younger Topaz sister, who beamed back as he helped her onto the back of his bike. 

"Remember Avery, be extra kind to the Coopers for them letting you stay there all weekend." Toni voiced as they set off, bikes roaring to life and heading down to the tracks separating the north and south side.

The air was warm, the breeze in the air pushing faded pink waves back. The sun was peaking thru the treetops and setting fire to the smoke filtering out of the exhaust pipes. 

It was a beautiful day, and the extra dose of Adrenaline in her just made the happiness bubbling in her stomach boil over. Applying extra gas to her bike; the front wheel lifted slightly as the serpent girl skidded into Pop's parking lot. 

"Jesus, Toni.." Fangs mumbled as he approached her once he caught up at a safe speed, careful to not let Avery hear him "Are you... yaknow, okay? You were being more reckless than usual..."

"Yeah, Fogarty. Get off my case, I'm just having fun." She replied courtly, making her way to the door "Come on, Aves." 

"I'm gonna go pee!" Avery announced as she bounded thru the doors, waving at Pop Tate "Alright but if you don't hurry I'm eating your pancakes!" Toni shouted back with a smile, settling into a booth in the corner of the diner "Just the usual, Pop!"

"Sooo how are things with Kevin?" Toni mused as she drummed her fingers absentmindedly on the table. Fangs was red. "Good." Was all he had to answer, but the smile on his face was telling enough. 

"You've been spending a lot more time with him then with us" 

"We're just.. hanging out, okay? Drop it." 

Toni raised her hands in surrender; three hot plates being placed in front of them just in time; a smaller figure climbing into the booth a few seconds later. 

Her stomach was grumbling all morning, but the second she laid eyes on her plate the burger suddenly wasn't so appetizing. Neither was the chocolate shake she craved practically every morning. 

Sparing a quick look at her little sister and across at her best friend; both were wolfing down their pancakes like they'd been starving.  
"You know, Avery," Toni started, careful to not allude to her disinterest by forcing a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes "why don't you just bring this to FP. I'm sure he'd appreciate it." The other serpent's brow was furrowed in confusion "Youre not eating?" He motioned to the untouched plate with his fork "Nah, I woke up at like 5 am and had some old Chinese food." 

Fangs shrugged and continued attacking his pancakes. If he thought it was strange, he didn't let on.

"Toni can I have Cheryl?" 

"What?" Her head snapped to Avery who sat with syrup staining her mouth "What did you say?" Her head started feeling like it was spinning. Maybe from the overuse of drugs or lack of food, but suddenly the warm day felt sweltering.

"I asked if I could have cherry pie?" 

"Um yeah, sure, get whatever you want, I'm just going to go to the washroom."   
Not waiting for either of them to say anything, she practically ran to the bathroom, making a beeline to the sink. 

Her vision was blurring the reflection staring back at her; messy hair sticking to her pale forehead from the sweat. Her hands trembled, and with a few attempts at turning the faucet on she finally managed to access the cool water pooling in the sink, splashing her face until she felt the bile rising in her throat settle. 

"Ugh.." she groaned, rubbing at her temples "what's happening to me?" 

One of her hands gripped the sink, cool against her hot skin. She made a silent vow to take it easy on her consumption of Devil Dust - afterall, she didn't need it to survive. 

If only she knew how much worse things were about to get for everyone in Riverdale


	15. Do You Feel Like A Man, When You Push Her Around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for rape :( 
> 
> This chapter made a lot of little kids on wattpad mad at me! Only read if you’re okay for depictions of sexual violence!! It gets happier!

It was 9 pm on Saturday night when  
Cheryl walked into Archies small home, packed to the brim with teens of all kinds. Nerds, jocks, cheerleaders, outcasts. They were off in their own cliques, barely even aware that she was back. 

"Hey Cheryl! Long time no see!" Archie greeted, an already tipsy blonde under his arm "Grab whatever drink you want from to kitchen! Me casa es... uhhh" he broke out laughing. Okay, so he was drunk too. "Thank you Archie, Betty." She nodded after her cousin who giggled back as a response "I missed youuuuu where did you gooo," the blonde drawled out, her breath hot with the scent of vodka and... something else vaguely sweet? "I missed you too Betty." 

Cheryl sauntered off toward the kitchen table, a variety of bottles and cans of different liquor were staring back up at her. She didn't really drink, unless it was a flute of champagne or glass of wine at a family event. Other than that, she was always forbidden from it, despite her fathers large stash of whiskey and rum in the living room.

She settled on a cup of punch, a feeling of guilt itching at her despite being away from home. It was as if somehow they would know. They would always know.

Cheryl sipped gingerly at her punch, surveying the room. Everyone was laughing and in every direction, a couple was hooking up on any surface available. Including... a lampshade? It was definitely weird.

Another strange sight beholding her eyes was a huddle of students whomsts names she could barely recall, dishing out fine lines of a pink powder, while others were pouring small packets directly into their mouths. Apparently during her leave from Riverdale, drugs were surfacing once again. 

She walked off toward Archies spare room, deciding she needed space from the incapacitated teens. Fiddling around at the top of the doorframe for the key. Since Archie didn't want anyone hanging out in the rooms, he kept it locked up, but she knew practically everything about the Nancy Drew Crew of Riverdale High.

She felt the cool steel of the key under her fingertips and plucked it up, wiping the dust on her jeans before unlocking the door, closing it softly behind her. She let out a breath it felt like she had been holding in since she drove back into town, and sat on the windowsill, seeing teens, including Fangs and Sweet Pea rolling around in the grass. She briefly wondered if Toni were there but dismissed it as curiosity, and nothing more. She left for her. She wasn't about to undo all the progress she had made. 

She was a mistake. She didn't need to make them as well.

The door slammed open, startling her from her fantasied and to her much dismay, Nick St Claire waltzed in with a cheek to cheek grin plastered on his face "Hello, Cheryl. It's great seeing you back here."

"Nick." She regarded "Stalking me much?" She tried not to let her fear show, picking her chin up in the typical HBIC way

He merely laughed, dark and as ominous as he could sound, before coming in closer to the redhead who now stood, backing against the wall, her face tilted away from the stench of whiskey on his breath 

"Come on, Cher," he mused, offering the cup in his hand to her "Have a drink. Loosen up."

Her jaw clenched, staring him down as best she could "No thank you, Nicholas."

"Oh come on, sweetheart. Drink up. You know you want to," he taunted, placing a hand beside her head "You know..." he swirled the off-putting substance around the cup "No one missed you when you were away. Actually," he laughed, Cheryl recoiling internally at the sound "They were more concerned over dearest Penelope Blossom's dead body Riverdale's finest group of teenage detectives dug up." 

His grin was wolffish, almost like he could hear Cheryl's heart drop to the pit of her stomach, suddenly feeling like her body was gelatine. "What?" 

She knew her mouth was moving but couldn't quite hear what she was saying, heart pounding against her chest "Oh, didn't know?" He cooed, offering the cup once again "Mommys dead." 

In one swift movement, Cheryl downed the cup, cringing at the bitterness that burned its way down her throat. 

"I believe..." he muttered lowly, eyes drifting down to her chest "You owe me something from earlier." 

She bit her lip and looked at her heeled boots to avoid his eyes "I owe you nothing, Nick." 

He was too distracted by looking the ginger up and down to hear the bite in her tone. Cheryl herself couldn't really recall what she had been saying when her vision began blurring, blobs of colour and shapes dancing to the swaying of her body.  
"Feeling a bit dizzy, love?"  
Even his voice was cascaded by a blanket, eyes closing on their own accord "N-No... I just need to S...sit down..." she managed, all but collapsing on the bed.

"There you go," Nick grinned, pushing a stray bit of hair behind her ear, moving to kiss the exposed skin of her neck "I'll make you feel all better..."

-

Toni was on the edge of her seat, knee bouncing, sitting on Jughead's couch whilst was running amuck trying to dress himself and finish an article for the Blue and Gold "Dude," Toni drawled out as another of his socks missed his feet and landed on the floor of the living room "Can you hurry up? I wanna get there so we arent left sipping on shitty wine Archie stole from his mom's fridge. The party started an hour ago."

"Yeah yeah, relax. Since when are you in such a rush to get anywhere the Northsiders are?" 

Well, I'm out of Devil Dust and I need to find Reggie so I stop tweaking out. She thought, settling on a shrug to satisfy the beanie clad boy 

"Alright let's go, Betty helped set up so we can head straight there," he gave her a pointed look, shrugging his jacket on. At least that was something. "Isn't it weird that she just hangs out with the guy she used to be in love with alone?" 

Jugheads head snapped in her direction as they headed out the door "In love? Psh. She was not." Toni smirked at his defensiveness, putting her helmet on and turning on her own bike "Well, Archie was definitely into her for sure. Anyone with two eyes could see that." 

Jughead sneered in response, kicking the stopper of his bike out and racing ahead of Toni "Hey, wait up asshole!" She called out, kicking out her own stopper and trying to gain on him 

-

They showed up 10 minutes later, laughing after their speed race and stumbled onto the lawn, laughter subsiding as they saw their two serpent friends in a heated-drunken- wrestle on the grass. "Hey boys," Toni shouted, Sweetpea and Fangs grinning up at her "I'm gonna go find Betty," Jughead left, offering a small wave to his friends.

"Want a beer?" Fangs smiled, tossing a spare one laying beside him at the serpent who caught it with ease "You guys know where Reggie is?" "In the bathroom i think."

Toni beelined to the bathroom, pushing past the kids and throwing the door open, Reggie growling as he pulled away from the girl he was hooking up with "What the fuck, Topaz, get out!" 

She rolled her eyes and stared at him expectantly. After a moment he sighed, tapping the thigh of the frustrated girl "Get outta here," "Reggie are you fucking seriou-" "Out. Now!" "UGH whatever..."

Toni stifled a laugh as the blonde pushed past her, closing the door behind her as she walked in "Whats up, Toni." Reggie asked while zipping his fly up "I need some more packets." 

He lifted a brow in surprise "I gave you a whole box of 30 a week ago."

Toni sipped at her beer, curling her lips into her mouth and releasing them with a pop "Yeah well, it's not your place to judge, just to provide. Yeah?" 

Reggie stood there for a moment before sighing, reaching into his bag behind him and retrieving a plastic bag filled with pink sugar packets "Dont use it all at once. Alright?" 

She grinned, snatching it and tossing him a 50 dollar bill "For your troubles." 

She opened up a packet and let it pool against her tongue, swallowing it down with her beer. "A pleasure as always, Mantle." 

Toni left the bathroom, leaning against one of the walls and enjoying the warmth spreading thru her. Maybe it was the mix of alcohol and drugs but she felt weightless.

-  
Only now did she fully notice Nick's predatory hands still exploring her body and she involuntarily convulsed under his touch.  
He was holding her tight and way too close as he sneered at her with dark eyes.  
The nice feeling of comfort and warmth Toni had always caused her quickly replaced with panic and a sudden surge of unbearable heat, setting Cheryl's body on fire at the unwanted proximity and she swiftly disentangled herself out of his tight grip.

"What's wrong?" he barked, staring at her with greedy eyes.  
She kept her voice steady, swallowing the bile rising.  
"Nothing. All good. Just need some fresh air." 

Quickly managing to gain some of her strength back, she made a run for the door but as soon as she did, she felt a strong hand on her arm, twisting painfully hard and swinging her down to the ground. She felt her head hit the ground hard, and suddenly it all went blurry. From tears, or the head injury she definitely sustained, she couldn't see.  
She felt cold big hands working quickly at the multiple buttons of her pants. She blinked the tears away in time to see the heal of Nick St Claire's boot fall to the palm of her hand, and she screamed out in pain. That only resulted in him tightening his grip against her neck "Shut the hell up, you whore." He growled out, while his other hand busied to undo his belt.

-

Toni's eyes snapped open at the muted scream she heard coming from over her head. She licked at her dry lips, scanning the room before landing on red hair "Hey Arch!" she moved swiftly to the room where the football player was playing beer pong with their friends "Hey Toni," he smiled back 

"Do you know what's above that room by the bathroom?" She motioned at the ceiling above where she was standing "Uhhh, yeah that's the guest room, why?" He turned to her fully, Betty and Jughead looking at her from across the table "Just wondering."

Not awaiting his response, she made her way to the stairwell, stopping to grab Sweetpea and Famgs "You two, with me, let's go." 

They followed after her.

-  
All Cheryl could do was lay there and sob, when she felt him inside of her. It was painful, and rough, and exactly what she didn't want her first time to be. 

"Help!" She croaked out, the weight of his body on her throat muffling her cries "please god.."

She allowed her mind to wander to anything and everything. Toni. I need Toni. 

She began seeing stars, freckled in the room.

The door burst open, whether real or her oxygen-deprived brain playing a trick on her she didn't know, just praying it to be over soon. That he would squeeze to hard and kill her. 

There was Cheryl, laying motionlessly on the floor, looking anything but conscious. Her face was hidden under strands of hair, her arm bended out beneath her inhumanely and her head loosely rolling back.

The sight alone made Toni's stomach drop, sickening her with worry.

"Get out," Nick hissed, Toni 's eyes flickering, only now seeing that his shirt was already halfway buttoned-down and his dress pants bunched at his knees.

Suddenly it clicked and she saw red.

Toni quickly bounded toward Nick, who whilst in her daze was being pinned against the wall, Fangs and Sweet pea holding him there by his arms. Toni rushed at him, pumbling him as hard as she could, her fists moving faster then her mind could ponder. Maybe it was the drugs fueling her, or seeing him doing what he was that sent her into a blinding rage but she couldn't stop. Only when Sweetpea caught her wrist, did she. "Toni." He said, motioning with his head behind the smaller serpent.

"Toni.." Cheryl was mumbling out like a mantra "Toni, please..."

And it felt like choking on water and taking that first breath after drowning all at once.  
The fist Toni had about to hit Nick in the nose crumpled to her side, turning hot on her heels to see the heartbreaking sight of the usually tough-demeanoured HBIC, half naked, bleeding and sobbing in a heap on the floor

"Do whatever the fuck you want to him. He doesn't deserve to be alive." Toni grumbled out lowly to her two best friends, who let wicked grins cover their face "Oh, we'll teach him a lesson alright." 

They carried his body out the door and the yells for Jughead who arrived with Toni earlier faded into the background, while Toni lowered herself to her knees beside the redhead "Hey, hey, Cher... I got you" she cooed, pulling the girl into her arms. She felt her shaking, and ran a blood-stricken hand thru her tousled hair "I got you. I'm never letting you go.." 

She pressed a soft kiss to Cheryl's temple and relished in the feeling of her balling her shirt into a weak fist. 

Toni noticed the cup laying a few feet away and grabbed it, bringing it to her lips and darting a tongue out quickly at a bit on the lip of the cup, stomach dropping at the realization .She had been drugged.

Betty came running in a few moments later, sobering up almost immediately at the state of her cousin "Oh my god.." she covered her mouth as a sob broke thru "Cheryl oh my god..."


End file.
